MEDICC Review Journal Features Exclusive Interview with Cuban Doctor Félix Báez, Who Contracted Ebola While Serving in Sierra Leone and Returned to the Frontlines

News provided by

Medical Education Cooperation With Cuba

Feb 06, 2015, 09:00 ET


Oakland, CA (PRWEB) February 06, 2015 -- MEDICC Review today announced the publication of its newest issue featuring an exclusive interview with Dr. Félix Báez, the Cuban doctor who contracted Ebola while serving in Sierra Leone and has returned to the frontlines of fighting the epidemic.

Dr. Báez describes his challenging work with Ebola patients, contracting Ebola and his subsequent recovery in a Geneva hospital, and his motivations for returning to Sierra Leone to continue to serve.

“I think our [Cuban] nurses and doctors have become symbols that will hopefully give confidence to other health workers; you can go, you can serve, and you can survive...I decided to go back because people need us, our whole team,” explained Dr. Báez. “And besides, my dad always told me never to be a quitter.”

Cuba has sent 256 health professionals to Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea, in response to the WHO call for health personnel to curb the epidemic.

The main theme of MEDICC Review´s January issue is maternal and child health in Cuba. The country has the lowest infant mortality rate in Latin America and rivals Canada's, reaching 4.2 per 1000 live births in 2013, sustained in 2014, according to the Cuban Ministry of Health. Journal articles explore the public health policies and strategies that contribute to that outcome, as well as perspectives and research on issues such as maternal mortality in Cuba, which has not been reduced as dramatically.

The January issue “Maternal & Child Health in Cuba” includes the following articles:

Lowering Infant Mortality in Cuba

Neurodevelopment of Very Low Birth Weight Babies in the First Two Years of Life in a Havana Tertiary Care Hospital

Development of Hypertension in a Cohort of Cuban Adolescents

Factors Related to Antiretroviral Therapy Adherence in Children and Adolescents with HIV/AIDS in Cuba

Viewpoint: Controlling Postpartum Hemorrhage

MEDICC Review’s online resource, Facts & Figures, includes the latest statistics on maternal and child health in Cuba from the Cuban Ministry of Public Health.

The only English-language journal focusing on health and medicine in Cuba and other developing countries, MEDICC Review is an open-access peer-reviewed publication of Medical Education Cooperation with Cuba (MEDICC), Oakland, California, USA. Readers from over 120 countries freely view and download full-text articles at http://www.medicc.org/mediccreview. Articles can also be accessed through PubMed and other indexing services.

Jeannie Barbieri-Low, Medical Education Cooperation With Cuba, http://www.medicc.org, +1 (805) 233-7574, [email protected]