Cuban Populace with HIV/AIDS Lacks Food

Cuban Populace with HIV/AIDS Lacks Food / Wendy Iriepa and Ignacio Estrada
Posted on April 13, 2013

Havana, Cuba -For more than three consecutive months, the Cuban populace
that lives with HIV/AIDS has noticed an absence of the nutritive
products graciously granted by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS of the
United Nations.

The nutritive products have not been coming to any of the established
distribution points in the country since the latter part of last year.
Leaders of the commercial entities respond before the questions posed by
the affected that they do not know the why behind the absence of
supplies and even less why there is such a delay in the distribution of
the products.

In Cuba, more than 18,000 Cubans live with this malady and the majority
receive important help which alleviates the lack of fats and meat
available to the population. This isn't the first time that help has
disappeared without an explanation or cause, but the important thing to
remember is what the benefit of it means for each HIV+ Cuban.

Many in the world are unaware of the nutritive inequities that exist on
the island with regard to this malady. The foodstuffs that are received
dwindle in quantity and weight depending on the region where they live
and in accordance with the pre-established diet designed by the health
system that was previously fulfilled by the "canasta básica" or "basic
basket" granted by the régime.

We are mentioning this because we have received differing declarations
from information sources throughout the island. The HIV/AIDS population
in Havana is the most benefitted in terms of nutrition while the other
infected populace in the provinces only receive half of what is
distributed in the capital.

The subject has been discussed in different instances but never has
there been a response or a solution that benefits every Cuban that
struggles with this disease.

One could ask how many people are invested in this cause? Who would be
to blame in this occasion? Or is it that even International
Organizations headquartered in Havana cannot ensure and protect the
interests they represent? The questions are many and I fear that they
will continue unanswered.

As I write this note, I think only of that population, that while
government officials enjoy meals in abundance similar to those
representatives of international organizations headquartered in Havana,
many in that population don't even have something to swallow their
medicines with, while others replace milk with water only to cite an
example.

The situation might vary in different regions, yet if we discussed
nutrition in the six penitentiary establishments that confine more than
500 recluses of both sexes with this disease, the discussion would never
end.

Let this article serve as a voice for each person who lives with
HIV/AIDS and allow it to resonate and reach the ear of someone who is
really interested in these conditions. The scarcity and lack of food
access to the population affected by this disease cannot be shunned or
set aside.

Translated by: Ylena Zamora-Vargas

25 February 2013

http://translatingcuba.com/cuban-populace-with-hivaids-lacks-food-wendy-iriepa-and-ignacio-estrada/