HAVANA (AP) 鈥� Some of sickest people are feeling the effects of the , 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 also said 100,000 children younger than 7 are no longer receiving the daily liter of milk previously provided by the state and that the country鈥檚 16-vaccine immunization program for infants is 鈥渁t risk.鈥�
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 healthcare, but the system has been as a result of resource shortages, fuel scarcity and power outages that can last more than 20 hours.
Cuba spent three months after the , a key supplier, and on any country that sells or supplies oil to Cuba.
The island was already suffocating under a sharp increase in longtime U.S. sanctions, which prevent it from importing certain goods. The Trump administration demands that 颁耻产补鈥檚 socialist government release political prisoners, implement major economic reforms and change its way of governance to avoid becoming a national security threat. Cuba has repeatedly said it poses no threat to the U.S.
As tensions escalate between the countries, United Nations officials have warned of a looming humanitarian crisis. In March, the organization to raise funds for the island, but on Monday said several of its agencies involved with the plan were facing 鈥渟ignificant logistical challenges.鈥�
The U.N. said the regional Pan American Health Organization reported delays in shipments of antibiotics and laboratory reagents because of flight cancellations. UNICEF said seven critical shipments of supplies for newborns, valued at $630,000, were stalled in transit, while the World Food Program said 2,900 metric tons of contracted food aid could not be shipped to Cuba because of limitations imposed by shipping lines.
鈥淲hat we are experiencing now is a unique situation,” said Paolo Spadoni, an associate professor at Augusta University in Georgia. 鈥淭here is no doubt that there were problems with healthcare and basic services in Cuba, but there is also no doubt that these recent events have vastly amplified what was already happening, and that we are now in a different dimension.鈥�
Spadoni acknowledged that Cuba needs reforms and is suffering from systemic failures, but said “it is impossible to deny鈥� that the United States bears responsibility for the 鈥渁cute humanitarian crisis鈥� unfolding on the island.
Monday’s Cubadebate report also stated that about 1,400 megawatts of generating capacity are offline because of shortages of diesel and fuel oil for smaller power plants. It added that larger thermoelectric plants need spare parts that cannot currently be transported.
Additionally, the report said that 鈥渓ogistical and payment hurdles鈥� in wheat purchases have reduced bread supplies to about half of what was available before the energy restrictions and that the lack of fuel has prevented the distribution of 170 containers of essential goods.
鈥淏eyond numbers and coercive measures, the blockade amounts to an extreme and unjustifiable form of collective punishment inflicted on the Cuban people,鈥� the report concluded. ___
Follow AP鈥檚 coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at
Copyright © 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.
