U.S. Expert Rejects Blockade against Cuba

Dr. Stephen Berman, former president of the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) expressed in this capital on Friday his rejection of the U.S. blockade against Cuba, in force for over half a century now, which he described as a problem for both nations.

In an exclusive interview with ACN, the specialist in Pediatrics, Director of the Center for Global Health at the University of Colorado, in the United States, who participates in an academic exchange with Cuban colleagues, expressed his hope that the government and the Congress of his country change that position.

Berman said the U.S. group attending the meeting is composed of leading specialists of medical schools, academicians of the University of Colorado, the General Hospital of Massachusetts and San Diego and Harvard University, representatives of the American Academy of Pediatrics, and of the Pan-American Health Organization.

We want to start an exchange of ideas and learn more about the Cuban public health system, especially in the mother-child field, because Cuban pediatricians have a great health program for the population and is one of the best in the world, stressed the U.S. professor.

"Caring for children in Cuba and the United States: Sharing experiences and creating opportunities for cooperation" is the slogan of the meeting, under way in the Cuban capital until Saturday.

Stephen Berman expressed interest in scientific exchanges between pediatricians of the two countries and of new technologies to improve children's health.

While praising the achievements of the Caribbean nation in this field, the expert extolled its results in infant mortality, which last year was 4.3 per every one thousand live births, the lowest in the Americas.

In this regard, he contrasted these results with the reality of his country, where there are many inequalities, mainly when there is poverty, and the entire population does not have access to health services.

Berman, who was President of the AAP from 2000 to 2014, gave a lecture on the work of parents to promote brain development of children.

I believe that one of the most important things about Cuba is its human resources, it has a very fine education system and its people are very intelligent, he underlined.

He considered appropriate for Cuba to develop new technologies to join the universal sharing of knowledge.

The Caribbean nation also shows its experience in the elimination of mother to child transmission by HIV, the first country that achieved this goal, which was announced on June 30, 2015.