The Cuban regime acknowledged an increase in hepatitis and viruses that cause diarrheal diseases among children, such as norovirus and rotavirus.
The warning was issued this Thursday by the vice president of the Cuban Society of Pediatrics, Vivian Mena Miranda, during an interview broadcast on the official program. The specialist linked the cases to digestive transmission diseases caused by contaminated water or food.
"There is an increase in viruses, an increase in hepatitis, there are viruses that produce diarrhea, norovirus, rotavirus," said Mena. She also noted that the arrival of the rains may contribute to the spread of these diseases.
The pediatrician recommended improving sanitary conditions in homes, although she acknowledged the difficulties many families face in accessing basic resources. "If you do not have safe water, you cannot prevent the diseases," she said. However, the reality is that on the island, millions of people suffer water and electricity outages that make it difficult to apply basic prevention measures.
Blackouts make it difficult to boil water and preserve food
Mena Miranda called for ensuring proper cooking and preserving food in the best possible conditions. "We know the problems there may be, but try to cook only what is necessary, store food in the most optimal conditions, because what today is food, tomorrow may be illness," she said.
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The Cuban regime acknowledged an increase in cases of hepatitis, norovirus, and rotavirus among the child population. (REUTERS/Ricardo Arduengo)
The Cuban regime acknowledged an increase in hepatitis and in viruses that cause diarrheal diseases among children, such as norovirus and rotavirus. The warning was issued this Thursday by the vice president of the Cuban Society of Pediatrics, Vivian Mena Miranda, during an interview broadcast on an official program. The specialist linked the cases to digestive-transmission diseases caused by contaminated water or food.
"There is an increase in viruses, an increase in hepatitis, there are viruses that produce diarrhea, norovirus, rotavirus," said Mena. She also noted that the arrival of the rains may contribute to the spread of these diseases. The pediatrician recommended improving sanitary conditions in homes, although she acknowledged the difficulties many families face in accessing basic resources. "If you don't have safe water, you cannot prevent the diseases," she said.
However, the reality is that on the island, millions of people suffer water and electricity outages that make it difficult to apply basic prevention measures. Power outages on the island prevent boiling water and keeping perishable foods refrigerated. (REUTERS/Ricardo Arduengo)
Mena Miranda called for ensuring proper cooking and storing food in the best possible conditions. "We know the problems there may be, but try to cook only what is necessary, store food in the most optimal conditions, because what today is food, tomorrow may be illness," she said.
The official recommendations clash with a prolonged crisis of essential services in Cuba, where blackouts affect the operation of water pumps, food refrigeration, and meal preparation. The lack of electricity limits the stable refrigeration of perishable products. It also affects households that depend on electric appliances for cooking due to the shortage of domestic gas and fuel.
Authorities from the National Institute of Water Resources have indicated that more than 85% of the country's water pumping stations run on electricity. For that reason, power outages interrupt or reduce the supply and increase the risk of damage to the infrastructure.
Health authorities recommended breastfeeding and handwashing as primary prevention measures, although the resource is limited on the island. (REUTERS/Norlys Perez)
The vice president of the Cuban Society of Pediatrics recommended breastfeeding as a protective measure during the first months of life. She also asked that handwashing become a habit, especially after changing diapers and before handling food.
"A child's feces do contaminate," she stressed, explaining that digestive diseases and hepatitis can be transmitted through contamination of water or food.
The health authorities' acknowledgment of the increase in hepatitis, norovirus, and rotavirus exposes the risks children face in a context where the very prevention recommendations depend on services that millions of Cubans do not receive on a stable basis.
On Friday, October 2, regime authorities reported that 2.7 million people had their drinking water service totally or partially affected. The figure is equivalent to about 35% of the population that receives the resource through networks. The areas with the greatest impact were Havana, Artemisa, Matanzas, Santiago de Cuba, and Holguín. The problem combines blackouts, failures of pumping equipment, deterioration of the networks, and drought in some provinces.
The general director of the state company Aguas de La Habana, Yosvany Rubí, described the supply during September as "very complex." According to his explanation, the difficulties affected more than 577,000 people.
The lack of water, electricity, gas, and food conditions the daily life of Cuban families and makes measures such as boiling water, washing hands frequently, refrigerating food, and preparing food safely difficult.