Cuba Sends Teams of Doctors to Assist Guatemala After Volcano

[Mike Rows His Boat]

2. Cuba named their largest disaster brigade after an American hero - Henry Reeve.

Cuba’s Henry Reeve International Medical Brigade receives prestigious award
The Brigade is recognized for life-saving work in many of the world's worst natural disasters and epidemics

Geneva, 26 May 2017 (PAHO/WHO) - The Henry Reeve International Medical Brigade (HRIMB) of Cuba was awarded the prestigious 2017 Dr Lee Jong-wook Memorial Prize for Public Health at a World Health Assembly (WHA) ceremony today.

The USD100,000 award and plaque was received by Cuba's Minister of Health Dr. Roberto Morales Ojeda on behalf of the HRIMB, in recognition of its emergency medical assistance to more than 3.5 million people in 21 countries affected by disasters and epidemics since the founding of the Brigade in September 2005.

The HRIMB has "spread a message of hope throughout the world," said the award presenter, John Linto, president of the Korean Foundation for International Health Care (KOFIH). Linto explained that the Brigade's 7,400 voluntary health care workers have treated more than 3.5 million people in 21 countries ravaged by many the world's worst natural disasters and epidemics throughout the past decade. He added that an estimated 80,000 lives have been saved as a direct result of the Brigade's front-line emergency medical treatments to patients in these countries.

The HRIMB was established by more than 1,500 Cuban health professionals trained in disaster medicine and infectious disease containment. It is integrated into Cuba's Ministry of Public Health, which has over 40 years of medical aid experience.

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https://www.paho.org/hq/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=13375%3Acubas-henry-reeve-international-medical-brigade-receives-prestigious-award&catid=9246%3A70-wha-news-&Itemid=42353&lang=en