Cuba’s Lessons, Scientific Challenges During Pandemic

The lessons learned during the fight against Covid-19 and the process of transformation of technology and innovation were highlighted by Anales de la Academia de Ciencias de Cuba, a journal whose latest issue was published on Friday.

Rolando Perez Rodriguez and Ileana Morales Suarez, director of Science and Innovation at BioCubaFarma and director of Science and Technological Innovation at the Ministry of Public Health, respectively, are the authors of the former investigation, which proposes five theses to summarize Cuba’s experiences during the Covid-19 pandemic.

With a developing economy, the results in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic are a consequence, to a large extent, of the investment made in biotechnology in the last quarter of the 20th century and in a public health system with high levels of accessibility and coverage, they revealed.

We examine Cuba’s response to the #covid-19 #pandemic and lessons for the US w/ Dr. Abraham Vela. Watch the conversation at https://t.co/36KL8tuYa9. pic.twitter.com/aUrtttUHIK

— Rising Up With Sonali (@RUWithSonali) May 24, 2020
The repositioning of products registered or in the clinical development phase for other diseases allowed the introduction of novel drugs in the single action protocol against Covid-19 with a portfolio of 28 medications and supplies, including drugs, vaccines and diagnostic kits, among others.

To date, 19 products have been authorized for emergency use by the Cuban Center for State Control of Medicines, Equipment and Medical Devices (CECMED), the publication noted.

The authors mentioned as lessons the understanding of the management of science and innovation in health emergency situations as a learning process and its impact beyond the control of the disease.

#Cuba vaccine success - 83 % population fully inoculated vs #Covid_19 with homegrown vaccine >90% efficacy. As one of few countries with highly centralised state planning would love to read more about public health lessons can learn. Any suggestions? https://t.co/QU2nJIRAQe

— Jessamy Bagenal (@JessamyBagenal) January 5, 2022

The latter work, by Maria Luisa Zamora Rodriguez, from the Directorate of Scientific and Technological Potential at the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment (CITMA), summarizes the changes in the sector supported by programmatic documents from the Cuban State and Government.

She exemplified how in the nine approved policies the key objectives are to promote the growth of scientific and technological potential, the connection with the economic foundation, the increase in the impact and the integration of all actors in the system, among others.

Likewise, she recommended strengthening public policies to increase investment in science, technology and innovation, and include in the statistics those categorized with lower classifications, technologists and university professors, in addition to diversifying the sources of financing.