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‘I’d like to live to 120 as well’
• Dr. Mirta Roses Reriago, director
of the Pan-American Health Organization, says in
Havana
BY JOAQUIN ORAMAS
Dr.
Mirta Roses Periago, director of the Pan-American
Health Organization (PAHO), described as
extraordinary the creation in Havana of the 120
Years’ Club, whose noble objective is to contribute
to extending life to this age via daily actions in
favor of good health. “I’d like to live to that age
as well,” she exclaimed.
In
that context she informed that when PAHO reached its
100th anniversary in 2002, it organized a project to
discover and assess centenarians, because in spite
of everything said on population ageing, we are
still not aware that it is a reality that is among
us. She affirmed that there are countries with a
world record in their percentage of centenarians and
quoted Barbados and Dominica, with very small
populations, which already have more than 25-30
persons aged 100 or more. “And precisely what we
want to do is to contact them and make them visible
to the population and, of course, the Cuban
initiative fits in very well with that.”
She
believes that it is already a reality that men and
women can live to 120 and it is not an expectation
or a dream. Dr. Roses Periago affirmed that there
are probably close to 150,000 people on the
continent aged 100 and over. In terms of Cuba the
figure is estimated at 1,800.
She
emphasized that the island offers the best attention
to people; “we would consider that as universal
attention by guaranteeing the population’s access to
integral and quality health services.”
The
PAHO director, on a three-day visit to the Cuban
capital, toured health centers in the Havana
scientific complex and met with Cuban leaders, who
informed her of plans underway on the island to
bring health services closer to the population.
PLAQUE IN HONOR OF CARLOS J. FINLAY
Scientists of today are confronting the same health
dramas as those combated more than 100 years ago by
experts like Carlos J. Finlay, Mirta Roses affirmed
on unveiling a commemorative plaque for the 170th
anniversary of the birth of the Cuban who discovered
the transmission agent of yellow fever.
“Unfortunately, the society of knowledge co-exists
with the society of poverty and inequality,
challenges that this new generation of specialists
will have to take on,” she said.
“We
are always learning from the Cuban experience, in
terms of both individual attention and public health
attention,” she added, going on to observe: “As the
historic reality of Cuba demonstrates, its health
system is in constant evolution and dynamism. Health
is an area in which one can never be satisfied
because while it has its successes new problems are
generated,” and quoted as an example the ageing of
the population and a higher life expectancy rate,
which bring with them new challenges. “And also, the
world around Cuba is changing, with new risks and
new diseases arising.”
On the other hand she felt that one of the most
challenging difficulties for the island is the
economic sustainability of its own public health
system. |
