CUBANEWS FROM RADIO HAVANA CUBA E-mail: rhc@radiohc.org http://www.radiohc.org The following items are taken from Radio Havana Cuba's news service for Tuesday, March 10, 1998. Today's stories: 1.- CUBANS TO BENEFIT FROM THE ITALY-CUBA HEALTH PROJECT 2.- POLIO CAMPAIGN SET TO BEGIN ISLANDWIDE MARCH 20th 3.- CANARY ISLAND'S EDUCATION, CULTURE AND SPORTS ADVISOR VISITS CUBA 4.- CUBAN PARLIAMENTARIANS VISITING CANADA 5.- VENEZUELAN JOURNALISTS RECEIVE MEDICAL CARE IN CUBA CUBANS TO BENEFIT FROM THE ITALY-CUBA HEALTH PROJECT Havana, March 10(RHC)-- Some two million Cubans will benefit from rehabilitation services as part of a Cuba-Italy cooperation project. The project will support Cuba's national rehabilitation plan for the disabled, primary care for the population through the family doctor plan and use of therapeutic gymnasiums. The inauguration of the Italy-Cuba cooperation project was held in the Robert Manuel Zulueta policlinic in the capital's colonial center. Cuba's Health Minister Carlos Dotres, Italian Deputy Foreign Minister Rino Serri and Italy's Ambassador to Cuba, Giovanni Ferrero and others were in attendance. Included in the joint project are various machines used for the rehabilitation of children with cerebral paralysis and other neurological and orthopedic problems. According to the head of the National Rehabilitation Group, Dr. Eulogio Montoya Guibert, eight per cent of the population suffers some degree of disability -- 60 per cent of which can be rehabilitated with new therapy used in gymnasiums, family doctors office and senior centers. Cuban Health Minister Carlos Dotres, in the name of the Cuban government and people, thanked Italy for its cooperation in helping to care for the health of the Cuban people. And he said that Cubans over 60 years of age will be able to increase their life expectancy by 13 percent thanks to the new rehabilitation technology. Also present at the inauguration ceremony were the World Health Organization representative in Cuba Patricio Yepez and the representative for the Pan American Health Organization Javier Frances. POLIO CAMPAIGN SET TO BEGIN ISLANDWIDE MARCH 20th Havana, March 10(RHC)-- Cuba will carry out the second stage of polio vaccines from the 20th to the 26th of this month. Nine-year-olds and children under the age of three across the island will receive their second dose of the polio vaccine. Cuban Health Ministry officials and members of Mexico's Polio Plus Commission which has financed the vaccines for the last five years, will meet in eastern Santiago de Cuba on March 20th to officially begin the vaccination campaign. Polio was eradicated in Cuba in the early days of the Revolution. CANARY ISLAND'S EDUCATION, CULTURE AND SPORTS ADVISOR VISITS CUBA Havana, March 10(RHC)--The Education, Culture and Sports Advisor for the Canary Islands, Jose Mendoza Cabrera, is scheduled to sign a collaboration accord with Cuban institutions. Mendoza Cabrera is visiting Cuba at the invitation of the island's Higher Education Ministry. During Mendoza's visit, he will meet with Culture Minister Abel Prieto, Higher Education Minister Fernando Vecino Alegret and Education Minister Luis Ignacio Gomez. CUBAN PARLIAMENTARIANS VISITING CANADA Ottawa, March 10(RHC)-- Twenty-three members of Cuba's National Assembly are in Canada to participate in a workshop entitled: "How Government Works: A Canadian Experience." The seminar runs from March 10th through the 13th. The Cuban parliamentarians are in Canada under the terms of an accord signed one year ago between the Cuban and Canadian parliaments. During the seminar, the Cuban parliamentarians will get a first-hand look at how Canada's political system works. The President of Canada's House of Commons, Gilbert Parent, urged the Cuban parliamentarians to take home what they admire most about Canada's political system and to leave behind what they do not like. He added that both sides will discuss issues of mutual interest with respect and without limitations. Parent stressed that any differences Canada has with Cuba are settled through dialogue, not isolation. The Canadian official was referring to Washington's anti-Cuba Helms-Burton Law which tightens its almost 40-year blockade against the island and punishes third nations for doing business with Cuba. VENEZUELAN JOURNALISTS RECEIVE MEDICAL CARE IN CUBA Havana, March 10(RHC)-- Venezuelan journalists will receive medical treatment in Cuba as part of a bilateral agreement to strengthen cooperation ties in health, culture, social and scientific communications. The accord, signed by Venezuela's National Journalists College, the Journalists Trade Union and Venezuela's Social Security Institute with Cuba's International Medical Services, will offer medical attention to union members and their families, taking into account the technical and scientific advances of the Cuban health care system. [c] 1998, Radio Habana Cuba All rights reserved Articles cannot be reproduced, reprinted or published in any system without the consent of RHC. This prohibition includes the distribution of this material via Usenet News, "bulletin board" services, e-mail lists, print media, radio and television. For the complete RADIO HAVANA CUBA NEWSCAST and other features, please write for our daily broadcast schedule. We welcome your comments and suggestions. For further information, contact us at: Postal Address: Radio Havana Cuba P.O.Box 6240 Havana, Cuba Telephone: (53) (7) 791053 Fax: (53) (7) 795007 E-mail: rhc@radiohc.org WWW: http://www.radiohc.org