On World Hepatitis Day, the state media Cubadebate published an article on Tuesday in which authorities from the Ministry of Public Health (MINSAP) attempt to reassure the population in light of the outbreaks of the disease reported in various regions of the country, stating that the situation in Cuba "is not different from what is happening in other parts of the world."
The text, taken from the Cuban News Agency (ACN), omits the central fact: the outbreaks are directly linked to the water crisis and the health system collapse affecting the island, where around 2.7 million Cubans lack regular access to drinking water and nearly 10 million face intermittent supply.
Doctor Daniuska Hernández Griñán, a specialist in Hygiene and Epidemiology and head of the Program for Digestive Transmission Diseases and Immunization at MINSAP, explained in the article that hepatitis A and E are transmitted through the digestive tract, "often associated with poor sanitation and inadequate hygiene," and that to prevent them "water must be treated or boiled, and vegetables and fruits should be thoroughly washed before consumption."
The advice to boil water is paradoxical in a country where daily power outages of up to 20 hours hinder the pumping and chlorination of the supply, and where the hydraulic system was operating at mid-year with barely 37% of the necessary fuel.
Since January 2026, Cuba has reported outbreaks of hepatitis A in multiple provinces: Matanzas, Camagüey, Pinar del Río, Ciego de Ávila, Santiago de Cuba, and Havana.
In Camagüey, there were reports of between 30 and 40 positive cases daily during April, while in Matanzas, the authorities confirmed an active outbreak with 18 cases in the Versalles neighborhood and seven more in La Marina, Cárdenas.
By June, official journalist Gisela García Rivero acknowledged that all provinces in the country had reported cases of hepatitis A.
Despite this, the Deputy Minister of Public Health, Julio Guerra, denied in May that Cuba was experiencing an epidemic, although he admitted to the EFE agency that the health situation was "very complex."
The article from Cubadebate reminds us that the World Health Organization estimates that viral hepatitis causes approximately 1.3 million deaths annually worldwide, and that the global campaign for 2026 aims to eliminate viral hepatitis as a public health issue by 2030.
What the official text does not mention is that in April 2026, 461 out of 651 essential medications were unavailable nationally—more than 70% of the basic supply—nor that the main hospital in Villa Clara was without water for more than 72 hours due to a malfunction in the pumping system.
Cuban citizens themselves responded to the state article with accounts that contradict the regime's reassuring tone: “Yesterday I went to the clinic, and the doctor on duty was selling seasoning packets, the nurse was sitting at the entrance because she couldn't stand from fatigue, and the emergency room had no doors and no electricity,” wrote a user on Cubadebate's Facebook post.
Another comment captured the situation bluntly: "Pharmacies now look like museums, just like the warehouses. Anyway..."
Cubadebate itself acknowledged at the end of its text that Cuba "maintains the aspiration not to fall behind in the indicators achieved despite the current challenging conditions," a phrase that, when read alongside the reality described by Cubans, serves more as an involuntary admission than as a health guarantee.
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