Cuba's escalating health crisis is 'deeply concerning,' says WHO chief

Nurses stand outside the Salvador Allende Hospital before receiving a donation as part of the Our America Convoy in Havana, Cuba, on March 21, 2026. RAMON ESPINOSA / AP

The WHO chief said on Wednesday, March 25, the health situation in Cuba was "deeply concerning" as the US fuel blockade deepens the island's energy crisis.

"Health should be protected at all costs and never be at the mercies of geopolitics, energy blockades and power outages," World Health Organization director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on X. "The situation in Cuba is deeply concerning as the country struggles to maintain health service delivery at a time of immense turbulence, leading to energy shortages that have been affecting health."

Cuba's aging electricity generation system is in shambles, with daily power outages of up to 20 hours the norm in parts of the island, which lacks the fuel needed to generate power.

But since the US ousting of Cuba's top ally, president Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela, on January 3, the island's economy has been hammered further as Trump maintains a de facto oil blockade.