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Inicio Quiénes somos Corresponsales Resumen Semanal Coberturas internacionales Servicios SEMlac Archivos Enlaces |
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By Dixie Edith / Photo: AIN
Strong hurricane winds had in the past taken roof tiles, trees and even electricity pylons away, but a situation like this is unprecedented, Soler told SEMlac.
Around half a million houses were damaged and over 63,200 collapsed, Granma daily newspaper indicated.
Víctor Ramírez, president of the National Housing Institute, announced on local television that 77 percent of total damage had occurred in Pinar del Río, the Isle of Youth and the eastern provinces of Camagüey, Holguín and Las Tunas. Most houses in these areas had tile, wood or similar-material roofs, he noted.
Some 200,000 people have been left homeless and hundreds of thousands need to refurbish their houses.
"Eighty-percent-state-subsidized roof tiles have been supplied to the most seriously affected municipalities", he commented.
The issue of hurricane-proof constructions, however, has sparked much discussion lately.
Solutions "I was still paying back for government-supplied building materials when the hurricane destroyed my house roof and a wall", Soler stressed.
Over one million houses have been hurricane-stricken in the 2001-2008 period, Ramírez announced.
"We can build hurricane-proof houses, but they are expensive (around 10,000 dollars each), demand skilled labor and take long to be completed", he emphasized.
Jorge L. Rodríguez, first deputy-minister of Construction, said that the idea now is to refurbish as many houses as possible. "We can not provide a final solution right away", he added.
"Walls made of blocks can withstand hurricanes and similar disasters, he told Bohemia magazine. Quality plays a key role in this connection", he added.
Some television spots urge people to rebuild their houses on their own and seek professional advising for this purpose.
Experts at the Pan American Center for Sanitary Engineering and Environmental Science (CEPIS) conducted a study to evaluate 33 local building solutions on the basis of technical and financial factors, useful life and comfort.
They selected the best alternatives and recommended making widespread use of them. The most resistant houses are those built with cement, concrete, bricks and good tiles, they concluded.
New building-materials production plants have started up operating in western, central and eastern Cuba, Rodríguez announced. "They are not meeting all needs", he regretted.
CEPIS experts said that the asbestos cement gutters under distribution are just "fairly good".
They highly assessed the so-called petro-houses that have been built in the central province of Cienfuegos. Developed from oil-based materials, the new units withstood the impact of hurricane Ike last month.
Officials at the Ministry of Construction (MICONS) indicated that 70 newly established brigades will build over 100 houses a year in 35 hurricane-stricken municipalities.
"There is a need to involve additional skilled labor in these projects", they remarked.
Post-hurricane epidemic prevention measures By Raquel Sierra
The population over one year of age in the eastern province of Holguín is being vaccinated against leptospirosis.
Reynaldo Rufín, director of the Provincial Hygiene and Epidemiology Center , said that local residents are being given five sublingual doses of Nosolet.
This homeopathic preparation was first supplied to evacuation centers and schools, and is now available for the rest of the population, he added.
The distribution process involves doctors, nurses, health technologists and medical students.
Leptospirosis is an infectious disease transmitted by rodents and pets, and can cause death in humans.
Official reports indicated that over 1,700 people in the special municipality of the Isle of Youth have been vaccinated against leptospirosis and that another 735 are under medical treatment.
Luis Struch, Cuban deputy-minister of Public Health, announced that hurricane Gustav had generated 150,000 cubic meters of waste on the Isle and only 10,000 cubic meters are still to be collected.
As current humidity conditions provide breeding grounds for mosquitoes and other vectors, fumigation actions should be implemented on a regular basis, he stressed.
This recommendation is being followed in the 14 Cuban provinces because it has been raining heavily after the hurricanes.
There is a need to focus not only on increasing domestic agricultural production, but also on implementing dengue prevention actions, said a senior official at the National Association of Small Farmers (ANAP).
The local health authorities are intensifying epidemiological control measures at ports and airports to prevent pests and diseases from entering the country.
Hygiene and red-eye-prevention campaigns are underway in Havana, they announced.
A report of the Provincial Health Promotion Center indicated that heavy rains can lead to water pollution at cisterns and supply networks.
It recommended washing the hands before handling food, boiling the water to be drunk, washing fruits and vegetables before eating them, keep food refrigerated whenever necessary, and covering water deposits and garbage containers.
It also urged to go to the doctor's as soon as symptoms appear. They include eye reddening, secretion, discomfort and/or itching.
Estimates show that hurricanes Gustav and Ike caused five billion dollars in material losses: over 60,000 houses were completely destroyed; most plantations were swept away; and some residential areas are still without power supply.
The Cuban Civil Defense system adopted disaster preparedness measures that made it possible to preserve human lives. There were no fatalities during hurricane Gustav, and only seven people were killed by Ike.
Government officials believe that these natural disasters were the worst events that have hit the island in the last 50 years. "We are using all national reserves in recovery efforts", they said.
Food supply, a source of concernBy Raquel Sierra / Photo: Carmona
Héctor in Camagüey and Nive in Baracoa share her concern. While Gustav hit the western provinces, Ike swept almost all provinces away.
Preliminary government estimates set overall material losses at five billion dollars. They were seen mostly in fields under cultivation and fowl and cattle rearing projects.
Right after the hurricanes hit in late August and early September, tuber and vegetable supply dropped and prices grew by up to 300 percent, especially at free markets.
Established in 1994 for the purpose of increasing agricultural production, these establishments usually have products of higher quality than government-operated markets.
"Whenever a hurricane comes, supply declines and sellers force prices up, and hide goods to make people pay more", said Magalys, who cooks for her family, including two grandchildren.
Long before the latest hurricanes hit, local economists had indicated that Cuban households required much more than their monthly income to meet basic food needs.
The Cuban government has, for the first time, adopted a number of measures to set ceiling prices at free markets and deal with overpricing, speculation and hoarding in an effective manner.
Granma newspaper said, on September 29, that prices at these establishments can not exceed pre-hurricane prices. There will be no price rise for staple, rationed and freely sold products, despite soaring international prices, it added.
Many people fear that the food shortage seen in the early 1990s, when a serious economic crisis broke out in the country, will be back. Rationed distribution at the time failed to cover basic needs.
A report of the Ministry of Agriculture indicated, on September 18, that 30 percent of the area under cultivation all over the country (around 111,000 hectares) had been lost.
"We have put together a comprehensive plan to increase agricultural production and use of animal draft and irrigation equipment, and foster fowl and hog rearing", it added.
As domestic production does not meet the country's needs, the government has to import over one billion dollars in foodstuffs every year, local officials commented. It imported 3.4 million tons for 1.4 billion dollars last year, they stressed. A similar volume will call for another billion dollars now, they anticipated.
Press reports indicated that cereal, grain and other imports are guaranteed and that additional contracts are being signed to make up for a drop in tuber and fruit supply in the next few months.
Most people are still anxious, however. "Nurses, doctors and patients do not speak of anything else here", said a psychologist who sees stress sufferers on a daily basis.
Agricultural productionHavana was not seriously hit by hurricanes Gustav and Ike, but most supplies for the capital come from neighboring, stricken provinces.
René, a farmer living on the outskirts of the city, said that he is planting short-cycle crops like chard, lettuce, radish and onion to help overcome the current situation. "Other crops like tubers will take three to six months to grow", he added.
"We have been unable to toil the land as we planned because it has been raining quite often lately", he stressed.
Havana has 2.2 million inhabitants (20 percent of the country's population) and only 0.4 percent of overall arable land, noted a senior official at the National Association of Small Farmers.
"We need to increase local production of tubers, vegetables, greens, pork meat and beef", said Justo, a cooperative member.
President Raúl Castro had indicated earlier this year that food supply for the 11.2-million population was a national-security issue.
Out of 6.6 million hectares devoted to agricultural production in the island last year, only 2.9 million were actually under cultivation, officials announced.
A difficult situationPeople in Havana are worried about food supply in the months to come, but residents in hurricane-stricken provinces are already experiencing critical shortage.
Thousands of people lost their houses and belongings and are still living at shelters or at family members or friends'. Those at state-operated facilities have free food supply.
Ike destroyed not only crops, but also working instruments and equipment, farmers told reporters.
Teresa, a resident in Herradura (Pinar del Río province), said she had bought two packets of spaghetti with Donation written on them.On the other hand, she tells that her grandfather, that lost everything and also his house, was given a matress, and other things to help him get along, at no cost. Palm Trees leaves help to built a " Bohio" the , for very long, Cuban Farmers House in the country.So this man and others like him, were built a BOHIO, until something better con me done.
In this regard, Ricardo Guerrero, Cuban deputy-minister for Foreign Investment and Economic Cooperation, told media representatives on September 23 that donations are not being sold at convertible-peso shops, as rumor has it.
The current exchange rate stands at 25 Cuban pesos to one convertible peso. Wages in the island are paid in Cuban pesos only.
A total of 63 foreign countries and institutions have pledged over 30 million dollars in aid. One million in kind and two million in cash have already been received, officials announced.
Local authorities indicated that the solution to the current situation depends on domestic effort rather than on foreign contribution. Some people believe that this is just a run of bad luck.
Tough sanctions will be imposed on those involved in hoarding, speculation, robbery and misappropriation, government officials announced on September 25.
Attorney-General Juan Escalona said that those involved in black-market operations and overpricing will be severely punished.
Silent violenceBy Dixie Edith
Teresa Orosa, who has a master's degree in Gerontology and is the head of the Senior Citizen Chair at the University of Havana, said that psychological abuse is one of the main expressions of violence against older people in the island.
Most Cubans do not resort to physical mistreatment, but to emotional and verbal abuse against senior citizens. "They are simply ignored", Orosa told SEMlac.
Although there are practically no statistical data about family violence in Cuba, many individual experiences corroborate Orosa's view.
"My family has swapped the house on two occasions in the last couple of years, and I have never been asked to give my opinion, Amalia Ramos (74) told SEMlac. She can no longer see her friends and do physical exercises on a regular basis.
Antonio Pardo, a former mechanic who is now 82, experienced an even tenser situation. "My son decided to leave our province (Las Tunas) for Havana and brought me with him. I could not stay there because I had nobody else to look after me. I am now living on a fourth-floor apartment and spend most of the time alone because I need somebody to help me take the stairs", he stressed.
Gladys Martínez and Elaín Calañas are social researchers working for the Humanitarian Affairs Department at the Office of the City Historian in Havana. They have witnessed similar situations.
"We have seen various forms of violence against older people, mostly violence by omission", Calañas emphasized. He is the head of the local Rehabilitation and Physiotherapy Center.
Families make specific decisions like swapping without asking older people for their views. "When they face such a situation, they usually get lost and fall into a crisis", he added.
Members of the Family Study Group at the Psychological and Sociological Research Center (CIPS) came up with a definition of family violence in 2006.
In their article entitled Family violence in Cuba: social-policy characterization and recommendations, they defined it as any intentional act or omission in interpersonal relations causing physical, psychological and/or material damage and violating individual rights.
Abuse of older people was first described in 1975 by British journals. There has been growing concern at this issue ever since.
The world population over 60 years of age will exceed 1.2 billion by 2025, United Nations data show.
Senior citizens should live in an honorable and safe manner, free from exploitation and physical or mental abuse, UN Resolution 46/91 dated 16 December 1991 established.
"Addressing violence against older people is a priority for the World Health Organization", Enrique Vega, regional advisor to the Pan American Health Organization, told SEMlac.
"We are following up abuse, mistreatment and, above all, neglect at long-term healthcare institutions. Although there is no statistical information available, we know that mental and verbal abuse is much more important than physical abuse. There are not enough reports and research works on the former", he added.
Five surveys conducted in the last 10 years in some developed nations have revealed that four to six percent of the older population has suffered from physical, psychological and/or economic abuse or neglect.
Senior citizens in Cuba have seen their houses or rooms taken and their rights trampled upon by their descendants.
"Some families have given them the role of going for bread and the newspaper in the morning. If they do anything else, they are attacked", Calañas commented.
"Experts indicated that older people make up the social group that is most vulnerable to domestic violence. This situation is compounded by physical and psychological disabilities in many cases", they added.
"This type of abuse can be a reaction to acts of violence they committed when they were younger", the specialists noted.
Abuse can have an extremely serious impact on older people, the CIPS study concluded.
As Cuba will become one of the oldest countries of the region by 2050, there is an urgent need to address these issues.
Officials said that the National Program for Older People Care at a Community Level had supplied foodstuffs to 42,000 senior citizens in 2004. Another 6,000 received house cleaning and laundry services as well as home care by geriatric assistants, they added.
Social assistance has also been provided in cash and in kind, depending on specific socio-economic conditions.
A more inclusive, comprehensive culture needs to be developed to deal with population aging in an effective manner, experts emphasized.
"We need to adapt to the new times", Orosa remarked.
The Office of the City Historian's Humanitarian Affairs Department has developed socio-cultural programs to teach older people how to deal with current situations, break away from old beliefs, and look after themselves whenever possible.
"We provide them with a wide range of alternative solutions, urge them to participate in our activities, and help them change, Calañas explained. We treat senior citizens with dignity", Martínez concluded.
Challenges of agingBy Dixie Edith / Photo: Carmona
"I turned 86 and I still do all house chores. My nephews have asked me to go live with them, but I prefer to stay here because I am an old woman and I have my funny little ways, Adelfa Torres", a resident in Diez de Octubre municipality (Havana), told SEMlac.
She does not do any sport, but walks one kilometer every morning to visit a friend who suffers from senile dementia. "I used to look after her. I can not do it any longer because she is on a wheelchair and I can not help her move", Torres added.
People over 60 years of age made up 16.6 percent of the local population last year, and the number will continue growing at an accelerate pace. Life expectancy reached 77.9 years in the 2005-2007 period, a CEPDE study showed.
Torres became a widow over a decade ago and had cared for her sick husband for five years, until he passed away.
The research also corroborated an increase in the so-called geriatric life expectancy, that is, the number of years a person over 60 lives.
It stands at 20.8 years for men (similar to France and Italy) and 23.4 years for women (higher than in the UK, Denmark and Norway ), it revealed.
The number of people likely to turn 80 has moved from 37 percent of the overall population in 1970 to 52 percent in 2000.
The study included something really new: the calculation of life expectancy for people over 100 years of age.
CEPDE director Juan C. Alfonso said that this is a synthetic indicator par excellence. As it clearly shows living, health, education and other socio-economic conditions in a country or region, it is used by the United Nations to measure national human development indexes, he added.
"Cuba ranked 51st on the UN human development list last year and is likely to have a life expectancy of 80 years in the not-too-distant future", Alfonso stressed.
"Such an increase will pose a serious challenge to the local healthcare system", he remarked.
"I was recently diagnosed with high-blood pressure and a respiratory disorder. I can not put any salt in my food and I have to take pills every day. I do not feel like going out as often as I used to", Torres commented.
Alberto Fernández, director of the Ministry of Public Health's National Care Program for Older People, stated in 2006 that population aging increases both disability risks and geriatric diseases that demand long-term, specialized services. He made the statement at an International Workshop on Life Expectancy.
Enrique Vega, former director of the Iberian-American Center for Older People (CITED) and current regional advisor to the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO), had told local media representatives in 2004 that accelerated population aging in Cuba called for new healthcare and social-assistance policies.
"They should make more emphasis on disease prevention than care", he noted.
There will be more senior citizens than children in Cuba by 2010, he anticipated. A family doctor in Havana, for example, will care for 118 older people and 92 children, he stressed.
He/she will follow up five pregnant women, five children under one year of age, nine senior citizens over 75 and nine Alzheimer patients, he added.
"Around 40 percent of the knowledge that Comprehensive General Medicine students are acquiring today has to do with mother-and-child care and only four percent is related to older people", he commented.
Osvaldo Prieto, chairman of the Organizing Committee of an International Congress on Geriatrics and Gerontology held earlier this month in Havana, announced that 260 geriatricians have been trained in the island. "We will have 300 very soon", he announced.
According to CEPDE study, 73 percent of deaths in 2007 were due to heart diseases, malignant tumors, cerebrovascular diseases, influenza, pneumonia or accidents.
"If we make progress in heart-disease and cancer prevention, we will further reduce the local mortality rate", Alfonso stressed.
"There is also a need to promote healthy lifestyles, balanced diet, physical exercises and cultural upgrading", he added.
Established in 2003, the 120-Year Club is made up of people of all ages striving to live 12 decades.
Dr. Eugenio Selman-Housein, president of the Club and the Caribbean Medical Association, highlighted the importance of satisfactory longevity (better quality of life).
"If people really care for their body, they will suffer from no physical weakening because cells are constantly regenerating", he said.
Participants in the 1st National Workshop of Centenarians, which was organized by the 120-Year Club, indicated that physical exercises and balanced diet play a key role in longevity.
Representatives of the Latin American and Caribbean Population Center, which is under the umbrella of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), have recommended that people aged 30 to 40 should prepare for old age under unfavorable conditions, at the same time that they look after older people in their families. "They know that they will not count on the type of family support they are currently providing", they emphasized.
Population aging and increased life expectancy have an impact not only on the healthcare system, but also on the economy and society.
A new bill on social security is now being discussed at workplaces all over the island. The idea is to increase pensions and retirement age by five years.
Retirement in Cuba is not age-driven, but minimum age has so far been 55 years for women and 60 for men.
The bill will be submitted for review and approval by the local parliament next December.
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The Women's News Service from Latin America and the Caribbean (SEMlac), International News Agency, offers this weekly service. No reproduction without authorization. Any comment o suggestion please contact us: semlac@redsemlac.net |
A
report of the National Office of Statistics' Population and
Development Study Center (CEPDE) recently indicated that life
expectancy in the island is 78 years.