According to the Fund’s representation on the island, during his visit, which will last until next Wednesday, he will exchange with national authorities, tour the projects developed by UNFPA in Cuba and participate in the 2022 Cuba-Health International Convention, inaugurated this Monday.

The senior official has a history of more than 30 years of strategic leadership in the fields of medicine, public and reproductive health, social justice and philanthropy.

Her academic career began at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and Columbia University School of Public Health.

From 2014 to 2016, Kanem represented UNFPA in the United Republic of Tanzania, and in July of that year she was appointed UNFPA Deputy Executive Director with responsibility for programmes.

In addition, she was the founding president of ELMA Philanthropies Inc., a private institution whose work primarily targets children and youth in Africa, and she held the position of senior associate of the Lloyd Best Institute of the West Indies.

She has a medical degree from Columbia University (New York) and a master’s degree in Public Health from the University of Washington (Seattle), specializing in Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine. Likewise, she graduated with honors from Harvard University, where she studied History and Science.

Natalia Kanem is the fifth Executive Director of UNFPA since the Fund began operations in 1969.

(With information from Cubaminrex)

Before, the only concern of Eladio Machín, from Cienfuegos; the Asdrúbal López, from Guantánamo and the Luis Bocourt, from Artemisa, consisted of collecting the grain, reducing its humidity, grinding it to remove the shell, classifying it according to its size and eliminating defects by weight (green grains, broken grains or shells). and color (black, white, fermented and canary).

In these times they have to add other items. In the Artemiseña company located in Bahía Honda, they also make charcoal, collect palm kernels, sell yaguas, rice, mameyes… to improve their income.

It is no longer enough for them to benefit from the product of the five pulpers in the West, three from the Artemisa province and two from nearby Pinar del Río; They have no other choice but to diversify productions, since the fruit originating from the highlands of Abyssinia, now Ethiopia, brings them considerable losses.

It is well illustrated by Carlos Espinosa Piedra, director of that Coffee Processor. “In order to collect all the grain, the State raised the purchase price for producers, without taking into account the coffee value chain, which requires a treatment process.

“So in 2021 we bought a ton of Arabica coffee at 149,000 pesos and sold it at 71,939; that of Robusta to more than 83,000, and we received 46,200 for its sale. Due to the notable difference in prices in the purchase and sale, last year’s losses amounted to more than nine million pesos, ”he reveals.

The really curious thing is that, if they had been more efficient and productive, the purchase and sales would have been greater… and, correspondingly, the losses would have been the same.

This was the case in Cienfuegos, despite higher levels of efficiency, and more severely in Guantánamo, according to Rolando Martell, financial accounting director of the Asdrúbal López processor, where they faced losses amounting to 186 million 297 thousand pesos.

Martell warns that the Guantanamo company was distinguished by solidity, supported by productive and economic results that reflected audits and criteria of financial institutions. What deteriorated its indicators was the incongruous difference between the purchase prices of raw materials and those of sale of benefited and processed coffee beans.

Espinosa Piedra, director of Luis Bocourt, points out that this situation influences not being able to apply monetary incentives to workers or distribute profits at the end of each quarter. On top of that, they had planned an average salary of 3,900 pesos, and only reached 3,270.

After numerous analyses, the Ministry of Finance and Prices approved the Agroforestry Group (GAF), belonging to the Ministry of Agriculture, subsidies for the various processors in the country worth 419 million pesos, Elexis Legrá Calderín, director of Café, told Cubadebate. , Cocoa and Coconut of the GAF.

“This year a new subsidy will be approved again, but not for the product, but rather destined to honor the commitments with the producers and the Bank”, he specified.

“The companies will continue with losses due to the difference in coffee prices, which limits the application of salary incentives, differentiated payments or distribution of profits. Our strategy lies in promoting diversification and increasing exports, to obtain more income”.

Another path that does not imply renunciation

Its charcoal is in great demand at fairs and points of sale in Bahia. This year they plan to sell 114.5 tons. Photo: Otoniel Marquez.

So in the processor located in Bahía Honda they take the path of diversification, in search of much-needed profitability.

“That does not imply a renunciation of harvesting more and more coffee. We intend to collect more than 200 tons in 2023. We have already created a coffee UEB managed by the EJT, in La Palma, Pinar del Río. On October 30 another will be born in Sabanilla, San Cristóbal. And before next Friday the 26th we must establish the Pinar del Río Coffee Subsidiary Company”, underlines the director of Luis Bocourt.

“This year 36 tons of ours were exported to the Netherlands and Japan: 18 of Serrano Superior and the same amount of Serrano Lavado. The plan for the year amounts to 54. The other 18 correspond to the harvest that will begin in September,” adds Iván González Costa, head of production.

“We intend to become an exporting company, although that aspiration has not materialized yet; For now, we do it through Cubaexport.

“We have dedicated 92,980 in CL (Liquidity Capacity, a currency exchange control instrument) to producers so that they can buy batteries, limes, herbicides… We also organize fairs or direct sales of the supplies that we have in stock.”

“But currently the main production of the company represents 20% of revenues (barely 11 of the 45 million pesos). And diversification has made it possible to reduce the planned loss, from six million to just over three”, reveals Lázaro Proenza, economics of the entity.

A new drug and much more

Palmex, an effective nutritional supplement, is made with palm nuts sent from Rancho Canelo to the CNIC

“We are topping palm nuts and sending them to the National Center for Scientific Research (CNIC),” says Gelasio Rivera, head of the group that is making the most progress in its efforts to diversify: the Rancho Canelo farm.

An upright, industrious and enterprising man, this veteran filled his people with spirit, there in the heart of the hills of Bahía Honda, almost 40 kilometers from the municipal seat. Where the weeds grew, they erected showy coffee plantations: they snatched from the mountain more than 200 hectares that were populated with coffee trees. His dreams multiplied into thousands of cans full of grains, with sustained growth.

So, the farm belonged to the Minint. “We came to have 170 workers, and we are left with 34, due to the difficulties in continuing to serve them as they deserve.” Until recently they had 70. “Having a sufficient workforce has become extremely complicated.”

Of course, only the results of work will transform that landscape. In the midst of such efforts, they have become architects of diversification.

With the palm nuts sent to the CNIC, the promising Palmex is made, a highly effective nutritional supplement for alleviating the symptoms of benign prostatic hyperplasia. Every month they deliver two and a half to three tons, which brings them about 50,000 pesos. They also sell it in the town itself, and between the two sales they earn about 70,000 pesos.

José Amador and Carlos Cavada climb the trunk of palm trees to heights of 25 to 40 meters. With Isael Figueroa, Mario Luis Valido and Roberto Travieso, they have made palm nuts a distinctive item of the Bahiahonda company.

A smaller brigade collects and sells yaguas in Bahia, which bring them between 15,000 and 20,000 pesos. And another five plant cassava, sweet potatoes, rice… for self-sufficiency, sale to workers and a part to the population.

As if that were not enough, on the precise date and with a waning moon, they have collected such quantities of mamey that they far exceed 55,000 pesos. And it would have happened in a similar way with the mango, were it not for the scourge of pests and the lack of current in the industry.

“We are beaten with the breeding of dark-coated pigs. By December we hope to have more than a hundred. We have sold a lot of ginger. And we have good coffee nurseries. I plan to sell between 13,000 and 15,000 Robusta seedlings for planting in the plains”, says Gelasio optimistically.

Any Artemiseño knows that Angerona (on the outskirts of the provincial capital) became the largest coffee plantation in the country, and Cuba the world’s leading exporter at the beginning of the 19th century. However, from producing 62,000 tons annually in the 1960s, it went on to stock only 6,000 and import 8,000 annually to guarantee supplies to families.

Reversing that situation will now depend on tenacity, on diversifying and making use of whatever formula translates into profits and motivations, on putting endless ideas into each cup of coffee.

(By Joel Mayor Lorán y Otoniel Márquez)

To learn first-hand about the characteristics and indications of this drug, created at the Center for Molecular Immunology (CIM), and winner of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Gold Medal in 2015, Granma spoke with Dr. Tania Crombet Ramos, director of Clinical Research at the institution, affiliated with the BioCubaFarma EnterpiseGroup.

-What is the monoclonal antibody Itolizumab?

Itolizumab is a molecule that was developed at the CIM for the treatment of lymphomas and leukemia. This antibody is able to block the proliferation and activation of t-lymphocytes, acting as an immunomodulator.

As part of its active mechanisms, it can reduce the secretion of a group of inflammation mediators, known as pro-inflammatory cytokines. In our country it had been used successfully in the treatment of patients with rheumatoid arthritis and psoriasis. Precisely, in clinical trials carried out in these autoimmune diseases, the monoclonal proved to be a very safe molecule, not causing adverse side effects in patients.

-What is called a cytokine storm?

According to various studies conducted around the world, a group of COVID patients develop an overactive immune reaction. To explain this in a simple way, after the elevated secretion of pro-inflammatory cytokines, blood vessels dilate to allow the immune cells to enter tissues, where viral replication must be reduced.

In some patients, a large outflow of substances and fluid occurs in the lungs and blood pressure drops. In order to stop the massive outflow of these substances, a coagulation cascade is activated, resulting in the obstruction of blood vessels in the lungs. This causes the patient great difficulty in gas exchange and hypoxia ensues. As pressure inside the lungs increases, heart failure can occur. Unfortunately, many patients die as a result of cardio-respiratory complications.

If other organs do not receive enough oxygen, permanent damage or even death may follow. The monoclonal antibody Itolizumab acts in the disease phase, when damage is caused by the immune system’s exaggerated response to the virus’ enormous ability to divide.

Thus, Itolizumab manages to reduce the secretion of these inflammatory cytokines, which cause the massive flow of substances and liquid in the lungs.

-What preliminary results have been obtained?

The monoclonal antibody has been used as part of an expanded protocol, approved by the joint scientific committee established by the Ministry of Public Health and the BioCubaFarma state enterprise group, for COVID-19. It was also approved by the Ethics Committee and by the Cuban regulatory agency, the State Center for the Control of Drugs, Equipment and Medical Devices (Cecmed). Thus far, more than 70 patients with the virus have been treated, in nine hospitals in Cuba.

“The main site of the investigation is the Manuel Piti Fajardo hospital in Santa Clara, where doctors and specialists are making very important contributions regarding the best time to use the monoclonal, as well as the best treatment regimen.

In particular, it has been used with patients in critical, serious and cautionary condition, at high risk for further complications. The best results have been seen in critically ill and cautionary patients, where the consequences of the cytokine storm are stopped in time. Likewise, in many cases there is clinical and imaging evidence of improvement in respiratory distress.

“We are currently engaged in the data collection and interpretation stage, so we can draw definitive conclusions, together with specialists in treatment and internal medicine,” the doctor added.

(Source: Granma)

Details on the effectiveness of the product were presented by Dr. Eulogio Pimentel Vázquez, director of the Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (CIGB), affiliated with the BioCubaFarma Enterprise Group, where the medication was first produced in the late 1980s.

“The strength of the Cuban health system, and its close ties with the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries, in our social system that prioritizes the people’s health, makes possible the medication’s availability for all Cubans.”

According to Dr. Pimentel, in accordance with the Minsap treatment protocol, this product, in combination with other drugs, is used as soon as a case is confirmed, and not with patients in serious or critical condition.

Data released April 14 shows that 93.4% of patients testing positive for SARS-COV-2 had been treated with Heberon (the commercial name of Recombinant Human Interferon Alpha 2b). Only 5.5% reached serious condition. The mortality rate reported by Minsap on that date was 2.7%, while for patients with whom the drug was used, the rate was 0.9%. On this same date, on the international level, 15 to 20% of patients were reported in serious condition, while the mortality rate was over 6%.

“The data shows that the protocol in our country is effective, and interferon plays a key role in these results.”

Referring to the medication’s use around the world, the doctor noted that important reports of preclinical and clinical evidence have appeared in several countries. One recent scientific article refers to a study conducted in Wuhan, China, regarding its use with medical personnel. Of the individuals included in the study, 2,944 received the drug and 3,387 did not. Fifty percent of those not treated contracted the disease, while there were no cases identified among those who benefited from Cuban interferon.

At this time, more than 80 countries have expressed interest in acquiring Heberon, reflecting confidence in its usefulness in confronting the pandemic.

(Source: Granma)

Nonetheless, it is not a vaccine that “miraculously” prevents infection, nor a 100% made-in-Cuba drug, although the Cuban technology used to obtain the Interferon molecule has made the process more efficient and improved the product’s quality.

This is not national chauvinism, but rather an accurate fact, as evidenced by the international prestige enjoyed by the Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (CIGB).

According to Santiago Dueñas Carrera, deputy general manager of the Changchun Heber Biological Technology joint venture – which produces Alpha Interferon 2b with Cuban technology – the decision to create this entity in 2003 was based on the common interest of Cuba and China to develop the production and commercialization of biotechnological products, based on the experience accumulated by Cuban scientists in this field.

Toward this end, he said, the transfer of technology, and also knowledge, from the CIGB to the new Cuba-China company for the manufacture of this therapeutic drug, with antiviral action, a process that ended in 2007 with the obtaining of sanitary registration.

“At that time, Interferon began to be used to treat conditions like Hepatitis B and C, until it was granted coverage by Chinese medical insurance, which has extended availability to 20 regions of the country.”

When Changchun Heber was founded, Interferon had already been used extensively in other countries, but the Chinese government recognized the capacity of Cuba’s biotechnology industry to develop safe and effective products, and chose to work with us, he said,

“Currently, the drug is produced at the joint venture plant in four principal formats, with different doses, all injectable: 3, 5, 6 and 10 million international units per vial, while since it began marketing, in 2007, through the end of 2019, more than four million doses had been administered, involving more than 100,000 patients in the country.

“This is the background to how ‘Cuban’ interferon got to China and the previous uses it was given, before in the current epidemiological situation,” he said.

Since the spread of the new coronavirus,” Dueñas explained, “China’s Health Commission asked companies producing interferon, including Changchun Heber, to supply this drug to the health system.” It is not the only drug used to confront the pandemic, but it is one of the most used for the treatment of Covid-19, especially in aerosol form.

A BIT OF HISTORY

To understand how the development of Interferon Alfa 2b came about in Cuba, we must go back to house number 149, in the in Havana neighborhood of Atabey, with only 180 square meters of floor space, where professionalism and commitment took root.

Completely faithful to history, we can say, “It was Comandante en jefe Fidel Castro Ruz, with his visionary thinking, who understood the need for Cuba to immerse itself in the field of modern biotechnology.”

This is how Gustavo Furrazola Gómez, a biologist by profession and founder of the CIGB, recalls the early days:

Work on the project began in 1981, after Fidel met with the U.S. doctor Randolph Lee Clark. “On that occasion, the leader of the Cuban Revolution had asked him about the newest treatments that were being used internationally for the treatment of cancer, and Lee Clark told him about the interferon that was being developed at the hospital he directed in Texas. Following that meeting, two Cuban scientists traveled to Texas to receive a certain level of training.”

Later, four other specialists joined this team, which traveled to Helsinki, Finland to the laboratory of Professor Kari Cantell, who had first isolated the interferon molecule in 1972.

The scientists returned to Cuba and, with the support of other professionals, that “little house” remodeled as a laboratory became the epicenter of an intense effort, making possible the first production in our country of interferon, from white blood cells, on May 28, 1981, Furrazola recalled.

NECESSARY CLARIFICATIONS

“When the Cuban biotechnology industry began production of interferon, a technology very similar to that used by the U.S.-based pharmaceutical company Schering-Plough was employed.

“But we began to develop our own elements and particularities in the technology used, seeking to improve the production process,” recalls Yaí Cruz Ruiseco, current director of CIGB imports, who worked for 16 years on the interferon production line.

Research studies conducted allowed us to develop methods based on established practice and scaling for production of the medicine in question, and thanks to this technology, we have been able to reach 99% purity in extracting the interferon molecule, which is very difficult, in addition to the fact that batches are produced with a high level of efficiency and security, she added.

The CIGB works jointly with the National Center for Biopreparations (BioCen), in the production of Interferon Alpha 2b, especially in the second stage which consists of filling containers and freeze-drying the product, to prepare the drug for distribution in its finished form.

We have always worked with those involved on the clinical and research side, depending on new applications of the drug with different patients, since, although it is mainly used to treat cancer, interferon also has antiviral properties, Cruz explained.

It is worth noting, she added, that this drug has been used in other epidemiological situations in Cuba, such as the dengue hemorrhagic fever epidemic in 1981, and in the 1990s, to treat conjunctivitis of viral origin, this time in the form of eye drops.

It is not surprising, that, given the Covid-19 situation, the CICB is working uninterruptedly to increase production and that workers like Gustavo Furrazola are proud to have participated in obtaining a drug that has helped so many, regardless of the hours of work he invested. As he says, in his own words, “in moments like this, we remember Fidel’s visionary perspective, and this becomes another reason for our commitment.”

(Source: Granma)

Speaking to the press, Martinez, who is a member of the American College of Cardiology and works at the Morristown Medical Center in New Jersey, said that there is much to learn from Cuban medicine, which in addition to being provided free of charge despite financial limitations, manages to do a great deal for the health of the nation’s inhabitants.

“Cuba’s results in the field of Cardiology are fabulous, and should be known by the world scientific community,” Dr. Martinez said, who noted the quality of Cuban specialists who have the ability to serve everyone who needs treatment.

He insisted that it is important to come to Cuba to events like this, to share and exchange common experiences in the field of Cardiology, because we have the same problems with cholesterol, arrhythmias, damage caused to smokers, and other pathologies that affect the heart.

The gathering of some 400 specialists was also attended by Professor Giovanni Pedrazzini, president of the Swiss Society of Cardiology, who highlighted the quality of Cuban medicine, which amidst many limitations maintains all its services.

During a presentation offered within the framework of the event, Pedrazzini said that if something merits attention in the case of Cuba, it is the joint work of its institutions that, despite limited resources, make the most of the country’s indisputable medical talent.

“What you are doing is Fidel Castro’s dream. Without his idea it would not have been possible to have a school that has trained students from Third World countries, who would not have had the possibility of studying medicine had they not been given an opportunity at this school, of a scholarship that provides everything free of charge,” stated the Cuban ambassador to Colombia, José Luis Ponce, speaking with the young people and their families at El Dorado International Airport.

“We are sure that you appreciate the love with which we give you this and how we share what we have, not what we have left over,” said Ponce on a day when Cubans commemorate the 93rd anniversary of Fidel’s birth.

The diplomat said that over the next two years, 1,000 students on scholarships, donated by the Cuban government to the Colombian people, will begin their studies in Cuba to support their re-integration into society with the signing in 2016 of the Peace Agreement between the Colombian state and FARC-EP guerrillas.

(Granma)

Victims of the conflict, former guerrillas, relatives of troops, and the population in rural regions of the country, according to Prensa Latina, are included in the group of approximately 200 young people who will begin their studies at ELAM this year.

(Granma)

Specialists from Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Colombia, Puerto Rico, Spain and Italy, as well as the host country Cuba, will participate in Histarmed, organized by the Medical Sciences University of Havana, from March 8th.

The program includes topics such as Great Warriors, their pathobiographies, and History of Art, and lectures such as ‘Doctors seen by painters’ and ‘Vincent van Gogh: artistic expression and lead poisoning’.

Other topics of the event are addiction to new technologies in early childhood and a lecture on humor from history, art and medicine.

Participants will be able to approach to the link of history with microbiology in Cuba, as well as homeopaths in the wars for independence in the second half of the 19th century and the events that contributed to the development of neurosciences.

Histarmed, to be hosted by the Conference Center of Cojimar, in Habana del Este, will run until March 10th.

(Prensa Latina)

BiologistIraldo Bello, who participated in the process, described the drug which combines interferón “Alfa” and interferón “Gamma” through the use of recombinant technology at the CIGB – as “unique” in the world.

The injectable medication cures or reduces the size of malignant skin tumors and can prevent scaring from surgery in areas difficult to operate on such as the face, noted the specialist. Bello also explained that Cuba has a high rate of skin cancer, which is usually caused by excessive exposure to the sun.

CIGB production plants have already manufactured over 10,000 vials of the new medicine, which continues to be developed with the aim of treating other types of cancer. Meanwhile the next step will be to include Heberferon on the island’s list of basic medicines, he stated.
The CIGB also produces the complementary lung cancer medication “Cimavax EGF”, which is applied alongside conventional treatments such as radiation and chemotherapy, and despite not providing a cure, does help to manage the disease and improve the patient’s quality of life, above all, of those whose condition is in the advanced stage.

Another outstanding product developed by Cuba’s biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry is “Heberprot-P,” a medicine to treat diabetic foot ulcers and avoid amputations, as well as drugs against hepatitis B and meningitis.

(Granma)

Destined to primarily serve the pharmaceutical industry, the plant should begin operations in the second half of 2016, and will subsequently be expanded.

Anabel Rodríguez Vera, general coordinator for the state enterprise GEOCUBA in the province, which is carrying out the project, explained that in its first year the plant is expected to produce some 183 million cardboard pill boxes and pouches in a variety of formats, adding that the planned expansion should allow for the production of 437 million units annually, by 2018.

The investment should be recuperated, she said, within four years, as a result of savings produced by the substitution of Cuban made products for previously imported packaging.

Rodríguez additionally reported that the plant will also be capable of manufacturing packaging for the food processing and cosmetics industries.

Accompanying the Vice President were Gladys Martínez Verdecia, first secretary of the Party in Pinar del Río, and Ernesto Barreto Castillo, president of the Provincial Assembly of People’s Power.

(Granma)