Treatments for tuberculosis and food donations aim to benefit nearly 10,000 people
14ymedio, Havana, May 26, 2026 — Donations continue to be the only resource to provide Cuba with a slight reprieve. This Monday, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) announced the delivery of tuberculosis medicines donated by Brazil, intended to treat approximately 1,000 patients.
The announcement was made at an official event at the Benéfico Jurídico Pneumology Hospital in Havana, attended by officials from the Ministry of Public Health, Brazilian diplomatic representatives, and PAHO authorities. During the meeting, Cuban authorities pledged to ensure the proper distribution and use of the donated medicines, which will benefit health services in other centers across the country.
Although tuberculosis is a low-incidence disease, with approximately six cases per 100,000 inhabitants, numerous infections and deaths have been reported in the country’s prison system. Just on April 11, common prisoner Alfredo Poll Imber, 50, died from the disease while in state custody at the Guantánamo Provincial Prison.
Cubalex denounced the deaths of eight prisoners in the Boniato prison in Santiago de Cuba due to malnutrition and tuberculosis
In March 2025, Cubalex denounced the deaths of eight prisoners in the Boniato prison in Santiago de Cuba due to malnutrition and tuberculosis. The legal aid organization stated at the time that Boniato is a detention center where “neglect, unsanitary conditions, and lack of medical care continue to claim lives.” Two years earlier, an outbreak forced staff at the Combinado del Este prison in Havana to quarantine part of the inmate population.
This aid from Brazil adds to that delivered last August. At that time, it sent combined medications for the treatment of tuberculosis in children. According to a report by the Cuban News Agency (ACN), the donation would benefit pediatric care in the provinces of Havana, Villa Clara, and Santiago de Cuba.
As for food donations, this Monday the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) delivered 106 tons of canned meat in the province of Villa Clara, with the goal of supplementing the diet of more than 8,500 vulnerable people served in 130 community kitchens within the family assistance system.
This Monday, the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) delivered 106 tons of canned meat
The protein, the ACN reported, will be added to a basic food basket provided by the program itself, consisting of rice, oil, and peas, highlighting the state’s difficulties in guaranteeing animal protein within regular social assistance.
The donation, funded by the government of the Canary Islands and implemented together with the Ministry of Domestic Trade and the provincial government, adds to other external food aid that partially sustains an increasingly deteriorated social system, such as the 15,000 tons of rice that arrived in the country on Sunday.
Last April, the government of the Canary Islands also made a donation as part of the WFP. At that time, it announced the donation of 75 tons of canned chicken, also for the population of Villa Clara, and it previously sent 48 tons of frozen chicken and 5.5 tons of canned chicken to the same program.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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