Dr. Eliéser Escalona GuerraNiger is in West Africa. The life expectancy of its inhabitants is 44 years, the average number of children per woman is 7.37, and infant mortality is one of the highest in the world. Its disadvantaged economy catapults it into extreme poverty.

Las Tunas, Cuba.- This explains the presence there of a Cuban medical brigade, and in it, Eliéser Escalona Guerra.

He hastened to write to me: "I am from Las Tunas." And so, as a faithful sister of motherland and ideas, I decided to write everything I know about this internationalist and lifesaver for the 26 Newspaper.

Dr. Eliéser Escalona GuerraHe arrived in Niger in July 2017, but his experience in previous missions in Timor Leste and Guinea Conakry endorsed him as a henchman to serve as head of the brigade.

He is a specialist in Hygiene and Epidemiology at the Aquiles Espinosa Polyclinic. When he has been in danger he always thinks of his family, to which he says he owes a lot.

He confesses that calm is his perfect ally to make the right decision. He did so when he faced Ebola, the toughest of all his battles, and from which he emerged victoriously.

Since he was little he thought that the doctor has in his hands the health and life of people. And consequently, he acts.

The brigade he leads is dispersed in different regions, but at the moment he does not directly attend to patients with COVID-19. However, and following the indications of the Central Medical Collaboration Unit of Havana, he maintains his usual activities, taking extreme measures as if he were facing positive patients.

Every day, when he communicates the daily report to our Ministry of Public Health, he says goodbye with a Cuban flag and one from Niger together, as if with the two symbols like this he would reveal again and again his very essence, the one that our professionals defend of Health today in 59 countries and of which Las Tunas, through it, can feel proud.

Dr. Eliéser Escalona Guerra