Cuban patients with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) reported a shortage of antiretroviral drugs for the management of their disease on the island.
According to Martí Noticias, in gathering the stories of some Cubans, the lack of medication for the illness is concerning, but also, the challenging situation of achieving a balanced diet is added, which is so important for these patients.
When telling the story of Dianelys Martínez Valle, a resident of Perico, Matanzas, who claims to have been infected in 2015 due to a blood transfusion received at a public health center during her pregnancy, inefficiencies in the Cuban authorities' actions are highlighted.
The young mother says she is tired of writing letters to Havana asking for solutions for her sick child.
"I have been mistreated at the hospital. I have been discriminated against. Every month there is a different problem. My child had to take an adult antiretroviral because the country did not have medication for children, and that caused him tremors. Even the vitamins that the child needs are not provided to me by the State," Martínez Valle denounced to Martí Noticias.
She, her nine-year-old son, and her husband have been diagnosed with HIV and claim that "in Cuba there are no reagents for any analysis. For months, my child has not even been given the proper diet for his nutrition. Everyone knows that HIV patients must eat well because antiretrovirals are very strong. My child has had anemia several times," the mother mentioned.
Her story is intertwined with that of Evelin Pineda Concepción, a Cuban resident in Guanabacoa who had to sell her house in that municipality to feed her son, who is living with HIV.
"Since my child was diagnosed, it has been a headache to get the antiretrovirals. There is more time when they are not available than when they are given to us," Pineda Concepción also told Martí Noticias.
Evelin's son is eight years old and has a paralysis that affects half of his body.
We had to sell the house to feed him and buy the child's food and take him to appointments because healthcare is free but transportation is not," he added in the Martí Noticias report, where he also stated that the provisions previously provided by the State have been reduced.
The shortage of medications on the island is a palpable reality, and HIV patients are not exempt from it. Since 2022, health authorities in Cuba acknowledged that the lack of condoms in the country hinders disease control.
For several years, Cubans have complained about the shortage of condoms, a fact that has led to an increase in pregnancies among teenagers and young people, as well as a rise in sexually transmitted diseases (STDs).
