Somewhere in Cuba, a mother warms her newborn son. The image of silence and love has a busy story behind it, which talks about our professionals: according to the testimony offered by three journalists of the Doctor of Science Danilo Nápoles Méndez – head of the National Group of Gynecology and Obstetrics -, at that stage there is a chain of achievements that are possible only because of admirable skills.
The professor said that, already in the process of giving birth, the patient suffered from high blood pressure due to her cardiac arrest. At that time an intensivist began resuscitation maneuvers; and without wasting time, a cesarean section surgery was performed to remove the children, intending to facilitate the resuscitation of the mother. Other interventions followed to stop the bleeding, stabilize the parameters and restore the mother’s life. Only knowledge and courage make a happy outcome possible.
Such stories are not unique and are part of a larger objective commented by the Doctor of Sciences in the Press Team of the Presidency of the Republic: “I must mention the support that the specialty of Obstetrics and Gynecology has in intensive care that disease. with intensive therapies, intensive therapies in the country that also made a great effort, among limited resources, to save these women.”
His reflection happened once, on Tuesday afternoon, the usual Meeting of Experts and Scientists on Health issues ended at the Palace of the Revolution, whose topic was the Maternal and Child Care Program in the Island, and proposals that they would seek to update it. and prevent it from the current state of society.
As reported in the meeting, Cuba will register an infant mortality rate of 7.5 per thousand live births in 2022, after it will be 7.6 in 2021. So far this year, that sensitive rate is at 7.3, which meaning 55 fewer children died. Although these data are still far from those achieved in other years when the rate was close to four points, a slight improvement can be seen, after the impact of the pandemic of COVID-2019 and under the effect of tightening the blockade of the State.
The manager of Dr. Katherine Chibás Pérez is the central presentation of this topic of the special value of the person, in a day led by the President of the Republic of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, and which also includes from the presidency the Deputy Prime Minister Inés María Champan Waugh, and Jorge Luis Perdomo Di-Lella.
The expert emphasized that the infant mortality rate is an expression of the welfare state of a country, therefore the great importance that the Maternal and Child Care Program always has for Cuba. And he prepared the ground for the analysis, by talking, among other ideas, about moments of particular relevance, in which medicine grew a lot – like 1970, which was the year of the first program to reduce child mortality; or 1981, when the epidemic of Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever led to the development of pediatric intensive therapies; or 1984, when the family doctor and nurse was born.
A woman marked by love and knowledge spoke at the meeting, such as Longina Ibargoyen Negrín, who currently works at the Ministry of Public Health in Cuba as Advisor to the Maternal and Child Care Program.
When the day was over, he explained to reporters that the Program was “implemented in our country in 1980 and consists of a large group of tasks; but it is not updated. All we do is work, work, participate in things. During this time, he said, a large group of teachers met to update this very important tool.
The Program – he emphasized – has 16 aspects with significant changes, and 17 new ones, such as the part of assisted childbirth: “With this updating work, this time we included – and this is what we present today. – 27 technological innovations, all very important to improve our tasks.
The expert explained that the Maternal and Child Program serves a large population, which includes those who are pregnant, or not, of reproductive age; children up to the age of 18 (and sometimes beyond). He stated that “sometimes we have some problems,” because people change groups, such as when a teenager becomes pregnant and undergoes another treatment. In each group, he said, there is a purpose, a goal to achieve good results.
For the Maternal and Child Program, intersectorality is important, that all entities in the country speak the same language of support, said Longina Ibargoyen Negrín, who stressed that, “to have a good number of infant deaths there must be quality accessibility . ”, and other areas such as access to drinking water, electricity, education, and nutrition. Everything is important to achieve results, says this woman for whom “achieving a mother’s smile and a child’s development” are very important goals.
When the meeting was over, Doctor Danilo Nápoles Méndez shared another reflection: The blockage, the loss of material resources, “has an important impact on the Maternal and Child Program, but despite these things, the effort that we made overcome those elements. .”
Regarding maternal mortality, a matter of special sensitivity, he stated that Cuba continues a plateau, in number, for years – with moments of increase -; and that these numbers have increased “significantly during the COVID-19 crisis.” However, he stated, this does not prevent the State of Cuba from attending, with the necessary efficiency, the essence of the Maternal and Child Program, which makes it possible that, once the epidemic is overcome, there will be statistical progress. .
The figures for 2019 and 2020, in terms of maternal mortality, are surpassed – for the better – in 2022; That is, in absolute values there is a decrease in this mortality.
Due to the relevance of the Program analyzed in the meeting, President Díaz-Canel spoke about following up on the update issue, and holding a meeting soon. “Time cannot be wasted here,” said the Head of State, based on his reasoning that “if we take good care of pregnant women now,” it will have an impact on future parameters.
To treat low birth weight, to work differently on the cardinal issue of maternal homes, to treat differently the issue of nutrition from all possible spaces, on the value of genetic studies, of teenage pregnancy and The dignitary also spoke about education that is very important within a family, who, regarding the proposal to update the Maternal and Child Care Program, said: “Undoubtedly, the work became serious.”
