Cuba AIDS Project

CUBA AIDS PROJECT

www.cubaaids.com

Alberto Montano and President Bill Clinton, NIH Washington, D.C.

The Cuba AIDS Project was founded in 1995. Mr. Alberto Montano (d. 1999), as Executive Director, was instrumental in the initial development and growth of the Cuba AIDS Project. While in Washington, D.C., in 1995, Alberto met with President Clinton and discussed his plans to help Cuban HIV/AIDS patients. After Alberto's untimely death, members of the Cuba AIDS Project team expanded contacts between the USA and Cuba in compliance with changes in USA policy.

Medical Marijuana Symposium June, 2010

Cuba and the USA have a colorful history of cooperation in areas of public health. Carlos Juan Finlay, who studied at Jefferson Medical College in Philadelphia, convinced the American Yellow Fever Commision in 1900 that the Aedes aegypti mosquito was the vector for the Flavivirus causing Yellow Fever. By conducting a series of daring experiments (three volunteers died in the process, the last being the American nurse, Clara Louise Maass), Walter Reed, James Carroll, Jesse Lazear and others proved Finlay's hypothesis. In the 1940s and 1950s, USA and Cuban physicians coordinated efforts to combat dengue, tuberculosis and leprosy.

BARKSDALE'S LAWS REGARDING MEDICAL MARIJUANA

It makes no sense for the USA to dismiss the food and medical needs of the Cuban populace, especially in regard to communicable diseases, when Cuba is immediately adjacent to the USA and tens of thousands of USA citizens travel (both legally and illegally) and intermingle with native Cubans annually.

Millions of USA citizens will travel to Cuba when legal and the Cuba AIDS Project does not want HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases, esp. sexually transmitted diseases, to be rampant in Cuba when they arrive. As we begin a potential new relationship with Cuba under the President Obama administration, the viral epidemic, HIV/AIDS, raises the possibility of bi-directional scientific and educational exchanges through which USA and Cuban physicians and scientists can rekindle historical relationships that may lead to future medical breakthroughs and professional friendships.

Sudden Infant Death Syndrome Universal Link?

Cuba AIDS Project is a humanitarian effort. We work with Father Fernando de la Vega of Monseratte Church in Central Habana. We obtain yearly data on HIV/AIDS in Cuba from Jorge Perez, M.D. of the IPK Tropical Medicine Institute. Carrying healthcare educational materials to Cuba is required. Because annual renewal of USA Treasury OFAC specific licenses for Cuba AIDS Project depends upon the efforts and proper actions of everyone, Cuba AIDS Project expects healthcare professional travelers to Cuba, under its licenses, to fully comply with all USA and Cuban laws, rules and regulations. Travelers must fully complete an application for travel to Cuba, including all current health information, then acknowledge and sign a liability release form before travel is arranged and permitted under the Cuba AIDS Project license.

Why do Afro-American infants have a higher likelihood of dying from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (S.I.D.S)?

There are no guarantees any applicant will be granted a tourist card from the government of Cuba.

For more information regarding licensed travel to Habana by yourself and other licensed healthcare professionals with Cuba AIDS Project, please contact Byron L. Barksdale, M.D. at the following telephone number: 308-696-7782 or by email: CubaAIDS@aol.com. Thank you.