Hurricane Irma Recovery in Cuba

To our generous supporters:

Hurricane Irma was the most devastating hurricane in Cuba’s modern history. Global Links has been a proud partner with Cuba for the past 24 years, helping to strengthen their public health system with materials and collaborative support. When Hurricane Irma devastated areas of the country last fall, we immediately began recovery planning and fundraising. Thanks to your generous support, we are pleased to share this final report on the expected completion of phase two of our disaster recovery program in Cuba in July of 2018.

• Our goal of this project is to recover and rehabilitate 5 large reference hospitals and improve their capacity to provide medical attention post-disaster. 3 of the 5 hospitals are teaching hospitals; all hospitals under the proposal offer general medical attention as well as OBGYN, pediatrics, and all surgical specialties.
• The next five distributions are scheduled to take place in July and contain materials such as clinical and administrative furnishings, basic equipment, instruments and boxed medical supplies. These five distributions will be the end of phase two of our disaster recovery program in Cuba.
• Distributions under this project will benefit large reference hospitals in the following affected provinces:
• Villa Clara (pop. 803,562)
• Sancti Spíritus (pop. 141,300)
• Ciego de Ávila (pop. 433,036)
• Guantánamo (pop. 510,863)
• Camagüey (pop. 782,458)
• Funding was secured through partnerships with PAHO/WHO and MEDICC, gifts from individuals received through the Global Giving project. direct donations, and a grant from the Global Giving Foundation.
• Other in-country partners are MINSAP (Minister of Health) and MINCEX (Ministry of Foreign Trade, the consignee who - alongside PAHO - is responsible for customs clearances and logistics)

We simply wouldn’t have been able to carry out this disaster recovery project without your support. We are so very grateful to you for helping us deliver the materials that Cuba's highly-trained and compassionate healthcare professionals need to provide care for their patients and improve capacity in their hospitals.

June 1, 2018, marked the beginning of yet another hurricane season. This year’s season is predicted to produce 10 to 16 storms, including 5 to 9 hurricanes and 1 to 4 major hurricanes with Category 3 strength or higher.

Our team is on watch and ready to respond. We ask that you keep an eye on our GlobalGiving page so that you can, again, help us in the event of a 2018 storm. Together we can make a world of difference.

Once more, thank you.  And from all of us at Global Links, have a happy and healthy summer!