Cuba Details Toll of Oil Blockade on Children's Health, Daily Life

Some of Cuba's sickest people are feeling the effects of the US energy blockade, with surgeries delayed, kidney dialysis treatments disrupted, and children with cancer facing a higher risk of death, according to a report published Monday by Cuban state-run media. The survival rate for children with cancer has fallen to 65% from 85% before the energy restrictions began in January, according to the report released by Cubadebate. It said that 100,000 children younger than 7 are no longer receiving the daily liter of milk previously provided by the state and that the country's 16-vaccine immunization program for infants is at risk, the AP reports.

Additionally, it said, another 100,000 Cubans are on waiting lists for surgery and the treatment schedules of nearly 3,000 patients requiring kidney dialysis have been disrupted. Regarding medication, 300 of the 395 essential medicines produced on the island are unavailable due to a lack of chemical components required to manufacture medications. Cuba provides free, universal health care, but the system has been pushed to the brink as a result of resource shortages, fuel scarcity, and power outages that can last more than 20 hours. The country went three months without a fuel shipment after the US in January attacked Venezuela, a key supplier, and threatened tariffs on any country that sells or supplies oil to Cuba.

The island was already suffocating under a sharp increase in longtime US sanctions, which prevent it from importing certain goods. The Trump administration demands that Cuba's socialist government release political prisoners, implement major economic reforms, and change its way of governance to avoid becoming a national security threat. Cuba insists it poses no threat to the US. UN officials have warned of a looming humanitarian crisis, and in March, they launched an emergency appeal to raise funds for the island. But on Monday, they said several agencies involved with the plan were facing obstacles. "Beyond numbers and coercive measures, the blockade amounts to an extreme and unjustifiable form of collective punishment inflicted on the Cuban people," the report says.