Neonatal healthcare in Cuba - started half a century ago- makes it possible for child mortality rate to decrease each year. In 2010, only 4.5 per 1,000 live births - the lowest rate in history, even compared to the United States.

Before the triumph of the Cuban Revolution, the childmortality rate was estimated at over 60 children per 1,000 live births, but thanks to the neonatal assistance carried out now, Cuba can show indicators similar to those of the first world countries, noted Dr. Enzo Dueñas, founder of neonatology in Cuba.

The passionate Dr. Dueñas , who was also the President of the Cuban Society of Pediatrics for over ten years, proudly said:  "thanks to the Revolution, I have had the satisfaction of having contributed to saving millions of human lives and thus having enjoyed their small smiling faces. "

Dueñas has been the only Cuban to chair the Latin American Pediatrics Association from 1987 to1992 and led the National Pediatrics Group of the Ministry of Public Health for over 25 years.

This eminent Cuban scientist was the first director of the Ramón González Coro Gyneco-obstetrics Teaching Hospital in Havana- founded 40 years ago- where he created the neonatology laboratory. He played the main role in the opening of intensive care wards for children, including neonates, an idea by Commander in Chief Fidel Castro in 1981, when a hundred children died because of a dengue epidemic.

Enzo Dueñas, a renowned pediatrician and professor of several generations of professionals from Cuba and the world, joined the group of Cuban collaborators who accomplished missions in Algeria in 1963, and then in Nicaragua and Peru. At the age of 82 years, Dr. Dueñas remains as a Consultant at the "Ramón González Coro" hospital with the premise to continue saving lives.

A translation by: Silke Paez Carr

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