Thursday November 3, 2011, at 6pm. The Hamilton Friendship Association with Cuba proudly presents a public lecture: Rebuilding Haiti: the Cuban Contribution, with guest speaker Dr Jorge Tomas Balseiro Estevez, MD, Cuban Medical Doctor working in Haiti. Dr. Balseiro’s visit to Hamilton is part of a 14 city, Canada-wide tour from October 15 to November 6, 2011. This tour, sponsored by the Canadian Network on Cuba (CNC), is an exciting opportunity to discuss the work to provide much needed support to the Haitian people dealing with the after-effects of the devastating 2010 earthquakes and ongoing geo-political stresses.
Join us for this exciting program! We look forward to an engaging presentation by Dr. Balseiro as well as a lively discussion following his lecture. You can also contribute to this work by donating to the Cuba for Haiti Fund, a Canadian-based campaign to raise funds all of which are directed towards the Cuban medical relief work in Haiti. For further details about the fund or the event, contact us directly at: info@cubacanada.org
The Hamilton Friendship Association with Cuba (HFAC) is honoured to be hosting Cuban Medical Doctor Jorge Tomas Balseiro Estevez, MD to share with Canadians about his experiences as part of Cuba’s Humanitarian Medical Missions.
In the face of the plight of proud Haiti, people around the world, from all walks of life responded with support and generosity. Cuba was the first to respond because it had been on the ground providing medical relief in the country since 1998. Canadians in diverse ways have also made their contribution; from Haitian communities in Canada, who immediately responded by sending aid, to the health care community which has raised funds, provided materials and sent medical teams to the country. As well, the CNC’s Cuba for Haiti Campaign, launched in January 2010, to date has raised more than $295,000, all of which has gone directly to assist Cuba’s medical internationalist mission. In this context, Dr. Balseiro’s visit to Hamilton is an opportunity for all those concerned for the well-being of the Haitian people to come together, discuss the situation and move forward, Cubans and Canadians as one with Haitians struggling to rebuild their country.
Dr. Balseiro will discuss his experiences working in the field, as well as the history and model of Cuba’s medical relief work in Haiti and other parts of the world. At the time of the January 12, 2010 earthquake in Haiti, 402 Cuban internationalists, 302 of them medical personnel, were working with the Haitian people. Since the earthquake, Cuban cooperation has grown to 1,304 persons, with 679 Cubans, and 625 graduates and students from 26 other countries, trained and educated free of cost at Cuba’s Latin American School of Medicine. The Cuban medical mission has treated more than 300,000 patients, performing more than 8,000 surgeries. Cuban doctors immediately responded to the cholera epidemic following the earthquake, saving thousands of Haitians. The cholera lethality rate for the general population in Haiti is 2.07 per cent, whereas, for those assisted by the Cuban Medical Brigade it is 0.48 per cent.
Cuban assistance encompasses more than just the provision of immediate medical attention. It is now also focused on strengthening and rebuilding the Haitian healthcare system. Toward those ends, the Cuban medical and paramedical internationalists work in 56 hospitals and healthcare centres, and have installed and equipped 30 rooms, in which more than 85,000 patients have been treated. This astounding contribution to rebuilding Haiti has been internationally acclaimed to the extent that many countries, including Norway, Spain, and Namibia, are redirecting their aid to Haiti through the Cuban relief efforts.
About Dr Jorge Tomas Balseiro Estevez:
Dr. Balseiro has extensive experience in Cuba’s many medical internationalist missions across the globe. From 1988-89, he worked as Director of the Cuban civilian Hospital in the Republic of Angola. In 2004-2006 he worked as a clinical psychiatrist in the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation of the Republic of Guyana.
In 2008 as a member of the Henry Reeve Brigade in Haiti, he was director of the Hospital de Campana de Leogane. In the immediate aftermath of the earthquake that struck Haiti in January 2010, Dr. Balseiro worked extensively with Cuban technical and medical personnel giving emergency aid. They were soon joined by the arrival of a group of more than 50 Latin American doctors, trained at the Latin American School of Medicine in Cuba. Dr. Balseiro also participated in rescue missions of hurricanes Ike and Paloma in his own country in 2008.
Dr. Balseiro was Provincial Director of Public Health for the Province of Camaguey, Cuba from 2000 to 2003. Currently, he is the Director of the University Psychiatric Hospital of Camaguey. Dr. Balseiro has authored numerous articles on mental health issues that have appeared in a variety Cuban and international magazines. He trained internationally in Hungary, Mexico, Guyana and in Cuba in different topics of public health, mental health and mental health and disasters.
This event is endorsed by the Hamilton Haiti Action Committee, Fix Our World and more!
