UN warns US sanctions on Cuba causing spike in child deaths and medical shortages
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights stated that tightened US sanctions on Cuba, including fuel restrictions, have led to doubled infant mortality rates and declining child cancer survival rates. The sanctions have created severe shortages of essential medicines and fuel, causing chronic blackouts exceeding 20 hours daily that disrupt medical services. The dispute reflects broader US policy aimed at regime change, with Washington arguing sanctions exclude humanitarian goods while the UN contends they are causing preventable deaths among vulnerable populations.
UN High Commissioner Volker Turk issued a strong rebuke of US sanctions on Cuba on June 8, stating that fuel restrictions imposed under the Trump administration are depriving 10 million Cubans of access to water, food, and healthcare. According to UN data, infant mortality has doubled to 9.9 per 1,000 births and childhood cancer survival rates have fallen from 85% to 65% since fuel restrictions took effect. Essential medicines are available at only 30% of needed supply levels, and blackouts frequently exceed 20 hours daily, severely impacting medical services. The US State Department countered that sanctions do not prohibit humanitarian assistance and that food and medical goods are excluded from the embargo, while pledging $100 million in humanitarian aid delivered outside government channels. The sanctions are part of a broader US campaign to force regime change in Cuba, with Washington cutting off Venezuelan oil exports to the island and threatening tariffs against any country providing fuel.
What's missing
The sources do not provide independent verification of the UN's specific health statistics (doubled infant mortality, cancer survival rate decline) from sources outside the UN system, nor do they detail the baseline conditions in Cuba's healthcare system prior to the latest sanctions to contextualize whether these declines are attributable solely to recent restrictions or reflect longer-term deterioration.
What different sources said
- South China Morning PostCenter
UN slams ‘unacceptable’ US sanctions causing child deaths in Cuba
- The Straits TimesCenter
Children dying in Cuba because of tighter US sanctions, says UN
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