At the end of 2019, the main cause of infant mortality in this province was congenital malformations, which is why the Genetics Program this year outlines novel strategies aimed at transforming that reality for the well-being of infants, and therefore, of society.

Las Tunas, Cuba: With this purpose, since January, and together with the chapter of the Cuban Society of Human Genetics, the Mother and Child Program and the Provincial Group of the specialty are leading the campaign “The genetic reproductive health in favor of social development in Las Tunas.”

According to Dr. Nora Orive, head of the Provincial Department of Genetics in Las Tunas, this initiative is part of the activities for the celebration of the International Day of Congenital Defects on March 3.

The targets of the campaign are work and student centers because they are precisely spaces where people in reproductive age move. It has the particularity of considering the male factor within the couple, an aspect that supports other actions that have been promoted for some time in the territory.

We are equally interested in both men and women," he says, "because both determine the health of the future baby. We proposed these places not only because of the intellectual level of the people and the possibility of having communication means at their disposal, but also because they are population groups capable of replicating information in other scenarios such as family, friends and neighbors".

The specialist said they plan to include the Telecommunications Company (Etecsa), other entities linked to the economy such as the Stainless Steel Company (Acinox), Metal Structures; as well as pre-university and university centers, even professionals in the medical field.

"We will hold meetings with these people, lasting no less than an hour, to explain to them, for example, what reproductive health consists of and how to guarantee it. Then a consultation will be set up in the spaces themselves with a genetic advisor and a nurse to carry out a genetic evaluation of the workers and students who will be brought to the medical offices.

"This action will allow us to have a diagnosis of a large number of inhabitants; taking into account that many do not attend the consultation due to lack of time, ignorance or low perception of the need to have genetic health to guarantee general wellbeing".