Unable to send the 213,000 bottles funded by Seoul by sea, the UN agency resorted to air transport.
14ymedio/EFE, Havana, August 29, 2026 – A donation of 213,000 bottles of prenatal supplements for Cuba was acquired by the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) with funds provided by the Government of South Korea, in order to ensure these essential supplies for some 30,430 pregnant and breastfeeding women on the Island.
Unicef explained this Friday on social media that, due to the impossibility of shipping the humanitarian aid cargo by sea, it used air transport between Panama City and Havana.
The operation involved additional costs due to the change from sea to air transport, which Unicef covered with its own resources, leading the UN agency to state that “saving lives cannot wait.”
It also indicated that the goal is for pregnant Cuban women to have access to the prenatal supplements required for the full course of treatment during pregnancy and the breastfeeding stage.
The operation involved additional costs due to the change from sea to air transport, which Unicef covered with its own resources, leading the UN agency to state that “saving lives cannot wait”
As a precedent for this donation, South Korea had already sent humanitarian aid: last December, it donated 24,600 tons of rice to Cuba to support groups affected by the devastating Hurricane Melissa and other vulnerable groups in the country.
Havana and Seoul announced the restoration of diplomatic relations on February 14, 2024, in an event held in New York, and later established embassies in their respective capitals.
The donation arrives in Cuba amid a deep economic crisis, with shortages of basic products such as food and medicines. The situation has worsened since the United States began an oil blockade against the Island in January, in addition to imposing further sanctions.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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