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The World Health Organization chose Cuba on Monday as one of the 17 members of the General Committee of the 79th World Health Assembly, which will be held in Geneva, Switzerland, from May 18 to 23, 2026.
The news was announced by the Cuba Geneva Mission —the Cuban diplomatic representation before international organizations based in that city— through its social media, where it described the appointment as a "recognition of the resilience of the Cuban health system despite the brutal intensification of the blockade and energy siege by the US."
The choice is paradoxical, as the Minister of Public Health of Cuba, José Ángel Portal Miranda, acknowledged in February 2026 before the Associated Press that the island's healthcare system was "on the brink of collapse."
That same official had admitted before the National Assembly in July 2025 that Cuba was going through an "unprecedented structural crisis" in healthcare, with a coverage of the basic medication list of only 30%.
Current data confirms this diagnosis: 461 out of 651 essential medications were out of stock in Cuban state pharmacies in April 2026, and more than 96,000 patients were awaiting pending surgeries, including over 11,000 children.
Cuban hospitals were operating with power outages of up to 20 hours daily, which has forced the suspension of nearly all services except for intensive care and emergencies.
Around five million people with chronic illnesses in Cuba, including cancer patients, faced interruptions in their vital treatments in May 2026.
In light of the scale of the crisis, the UN activated a $94.1 million emergency humanitarian plan in March 2026 to assist two million Cubans in 63 municipalities across eight provinces.
However, by mid-May, that plan was still funded at less than one third, with a deficit exceeding 60 million dollars.
The General Committee of the World Health Assembly is an internal procedural body for the annual session, distinct from the permanent Executive Board of the WHO. Its role is to coordinate the program, examine procedural matters, and provide advice on the development of the proceedings.
The designation follows the pattern of other controversial elections in the United Nations system: in October 2020, Cuba was elected a member of the UN Human Rights Council with 88% of the votes, which led to formal protests from 85 civil society organizations that pointed out that the system of candidacies by regional groups decreases actual competition.
The official narrative of the regime attributes the healthcare collapse to the U.S. embargo, while analysts and independent organizations point to decades of mismanagement, corruption, and lack of investment in infrastructure as the structural causes of the crisis.
The Director-General of the WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, described the health situation in Cuba as "deeply concerning" in March of this year, noting that the energy crisis is directly affecting the provision of health services.
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