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A girl named Nashly, residing in Sancti Spíritus, urgently needs Aveeno cream to treat Lamellar Ichthyosis, a rare genetic skin disease that threatens her life and has no definitive cure.
Family and friends of the little girl made an urgent call on Facebook asking for help to obtain the product, which is not sold in Cuba and must be purchased from abroad.
"Nashly's little one suffers from Lamellar Ichthyosis, a condition that causes thick scales and extreme dryness of the skin, with a high risk of dehydration, respiratory problems, and infections," describes the message posted on social media.
The disease, which is genetically inherited and present since birth, chronically affects the skin barrier and has no curative treatment. Its management relies solely on the constant application of emollients and moisturizers, frequent baths, and a humid environment.
According to Cuban medical publications collected in SciELO, "there is no successful treatment" for this condition, and historical management on the island has been limited to sterile petroleum jelly, inert oils, and emollient ointments applied every four to six hours.
In Nashly's case, the doctors specifically recommended Aveeno cream, an emollient with colloidal oatmeal that relieves extreme dryness and itching in sensitive skin.
"For this treatment, you absolutely need this product, which unfortunately does not exist in Cuba and must be purchased from abroad," warns the publication.
The family cannot bear the cost or the logistics of importing the product on their own, so they turned to social media to widen the reach of the request and find people who can manage or donate the cream from outside the island.
"We urgently need help to assist this little princess whose only reward for those who help her is a kiss and a sincere smile," the message states.
The call also includes a practical instruction aimed at those who want to help but cannot send the product: it explicitly asks not to react with the "Sad" option on Facebook, because that reaction reduces the visibility of the post in the platform's algorithm.
The case of Nashly is not the first of its kind. In September 2023, another Cuban family sought help for a child with a chronic skin disease who could also not access treatment through the public healthcare system, highlighting a recurring pattern among Cuban families with children suffering from rare diseases.
The structural shortage of medications and medical supplies in Cuba, exacerbated by the economic crisis that the dictatorship has been dragging on for decades, turns over-the-counter products available in other countries —such as an emollient cream— into unattainable items for thousands of families on the island.
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