HELP COMBAT CUBA’S FAST-RISING INFANT MORTALITY RATE!

Global Health Partners is working to alleviate one of the cruelest impacts of Washington’s economic war against Cuba: the country’s alarmingly high infant mortality rate. While the U.S. embargo has a punitive effect on every aspect of daily life in Cuba today, the sanctions have exacted the harshest toll on the public health system. A devastating example is reflected in the country’s infant mortality rate.

Before Cuba’s 1959 revolution, the infant mortality rate was approximately 70 deaths per 1,000 live births. And this number was likely an undercount as newborns in rural areas were dying without ever reaching a health facility, with their deaths never recorded. After the revolution, Cuba built a universal primary care system, and one of its proudest achievements was a low infant mortality rate – 4.8 deaths per 1,000 in 2012 – unique in the developing world. Cuba’s success even bested the record in some marginalized U.S. communities.

But now, Cuba’s infant mortality rate has nearly doubled to over 9 deaths per 1,000, and is rapidly escalating amid scarcity of lifesaving equipment such as incubators, neonatal ventilators and cardiac monitors. The lack of medical equipment is compounded by food shortages, gaps in prenatal care, and the emigration of doctors and nurses spurred by the economic crisis. Malnutrition among pregnant women and the unavailability of crucial prenatal monitoring has resulted in a substantial increase in high-risk, very low-birthweight and anemic newborns.

SUPPORT GHP’S NEONATAL AND MATERNAL HEALTHCARE INITIATIVE

To help alleviate and reverse this tragic development, GHP has launched launched a Neonatal and Maternal Healthcare Initiative, a pilot project aimed at replication nationwide. Working in partnership with Cuba’s Ministry of Health, GHP’s program will initially focus on two Havana hospitals, Diez de Octubre Maternity Hospital and Ramón González Coro Maternity Hospital, which treat the most complex pregnancy and neonatal cases.

As a result of the U.S. embargo, these hospitals, like their counterparts across the island, do not have access to modern technologies, medicine and equipment needed to save vulnerable newborns. Dr. Niurka Moran Obregon, head of Neonatology at Ramón González Coro Hospital, says that these extraterritorial sanctions make it “difficult, if not impossible” to obtain new incubators and ventilators. “The blockade overwhelms us,” she adds.

The two facilities also lack the means to provide pregnant women with preventative prenatal care for conditions such as fetal monitoring, hypertension and hemorrhaging.

The ongoing economic hardships also deny women the prenatal nutrition, vitamins and regular exams needed to reverse the rising incidence of risky deliveries and premature births.

PLEASE JOIN OUR DRIVE TO SAVE CUBAN MOTHERS AND NEWBORNS BY PROVIDING THE MOST URGENTLY NEEDED EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES

GHP’S initiative aims to supply these hospitals with lifesaving equipment and to institute early, preventive interventions to ensure healthy mothers and babies. We’re targeting the most urgent needs, such as neonatal incubators and ventilators, which are very scarce, aging and failing mechanically. These ventilators prevent respiratory distress, the leading cause of death for premature newborns. And Cuba needs thermal blankets and radiant warmers to combat the most common and preventable cause of neonatal death. Cuba also lacks obstetric ultrasound equipment that is critical for preventing maternal death and ensure safe deliveries.

These are just examples from the extensive list of desperately needed lifesaving equipment GHP will send to Cuban maternity hospitals this summer. With your solidarity and compassion, we can help reverse this tragic and cruel impact of the U.S. embargo.

GHP will put your generous, tax-deductible gift to work immediately to ensure that Cuban mothers and newborns can survive and thrive. Please use our secure donation link or mail checks payable to Global Health Partners, with the memo Maternal & Newborn Initiative, at 39 Broadway, Suite 1540, New York, NY 10006.

LET’S SHOW THE HARD-PRESSED CUBAN PEOPLE OUR FRIENDSHIP AND SUPPORT IN THE FACE OF AN EMBARGO THAT IS STRANGLING THE COUNTRY’S HEALTHCARE SYSTEM. DON’T LET TRUMP KEEP THREATENING THE LIVES OF CUBA’S MOTHERS AND NEWBORNS!

Global Health Partners is a 501(c)3 tax-exempt organization and your donation is tax-deductible within the guidelines of U.S. law. To claim a donation as a deduction on your taxes, please save your email donation receipt from GiveDirect as your official record.