U.S.-Cuba policy: Tropical Diseases and Climate change.
Dear Readers;
I am just catching up from last week’s lame duck return in Congress. It has been busy around these parts, so I want to update you on some of the events and discussions I attended in recent weeks.
For example, On November 10, I attended Cuban Ambassador Jorge Bolaños’ lecture, sponsored by the Institute for Policy Studies and presented at Howard University. For the record, Mr. Bolaños is the chief of Mission for the Cuban Interest Section (that is his official title in Washington).
I invited Julienne Gage, whom I met through my outreach efforts to inform the public on U.S. policy toward Cuba.
Gage is a freelance journalist who has specialized in reporting on Cuban issues, and she was working on a Cuba and Science series for Discovery news. For her article on global warming and tropical disease, I was able to link her up with a couple of experts and events, including the lecture by Bolaños.
Apart from offering a detailed account of Cuba’s success in placing its health index on par with developed nations, he also noted its excellent track record in curbing infectious and tropical diseases. He said both accomplishments were thanks to strong research and prevention.
I also connected Gage with leading U.S.- Cuba medical cooperation expert, Gail Reed.
Ms. Reed is the International Director of Medical Education Cooperation with Cuba (MEDICC), an Atlanta-based non-profit organization bridging the US, Cuban and global medical, nursing and public health communities. Reed is also the Executive Editor of MEDICC Review , a quarterly journal on Cuban medicine and public health.
In Gage’s Discovery News article, Could Cuba Help U.S. Fight Tropical Diseases?, Reed affirmed the importance of moving beyond politics to confront tropical and infectious disease with neighboring countries.
“I think because of climate change, because some of these infectious diseases are coming through in epic forms, collaboration between all countries is more needed than ever,” she said in the article.
I am now curious to explore these issues in more detail at the upcoming United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP16), which begins November 29th in Cancun.
There is more research to come, but have a look at my quick Google search on the issue. Also, please feel free to share any links to information you may know on the issue.
Excerpt taken from Global Climate Change and Infectious Diseases: Issue Volume 4, Number, Dated July-September 1998.
“Although most scientists agree that global climate change will influence infectious disease transmission dynamics, the extent of the influence is uncertain. This conference session provided an overview of the issues associated with climate change as it relates to the emergence and spread of infectious diseases…provided current evidence of global climate change and described how climatologic data might be used to understand geographic spread and transmission dynamics of an important emerging infectious disease such as cholera. The speakers concluded that global warming is occurring and that weather events appear to be associated with the emergence and spread of cholera in the Americas between 1991 and 1998.”
The year 2010, and battered Haiti in a time of cholera, Haiti’s cholera epidemic caused by weather, say scientists. Do we need any more evidence or life loss?
– Angelica
