Cuba Vive appeal reaches £250,000 – Thank you and let’s keep going!
Campaign News | Thursday, 22 January 2026
Thanks to the extraordinary generosity of supporters, the Cuba Vive Medical Aid Appeal has surpassed its £250,000 end-of-year fundraising target. This remarkable achievement is a powerful expression of solidarity between people in Britain and Cuba at a time of acute need.
In October, two 40-foot shipping containers of urgently needed medical aid arrived at the Cuban port of Mariel. One was sent directly to eastern Cuba to support hospitals responding to the devastating impact of Hurricane Melissa. Aid from the second has been distributed to hospitals in Havana and other provinces.
Read how Cuba Vive funds also provided humanitarian aid for hurricane relief
A further fully loaded container departed in December from Immingham, travelling via Rotterdam to Mariel, where it is due to arrive in mid-February. This shipment alone contains more than £330,000 worth of vital medical supplies, including a large quantity of colostomy bags urgently needed across the island. It also includes over 500 walking aids such as Zimmer frames and crutches, five hospital beds, 20 wheelchairs, and a wide range of essential medical consumables including pads and dressings.
With this latest consignment, the Cuba Vive appeal – working in partnership with the charity Jacob’s Well – will have sent more than £1.3 million worth of medical supplies directly to Cuba.
In November, CSC Director Rob Miller visited two Havana hospitals that have benefited from Cuba Vive donations – the Juan Manuel Márquez Paediatric Hospital and the Institute of Oncology and Radiobiology.
Medical staff expressed their deep gratitude to everyone who has contributed to the appeal and their messages are reproduced on these pages.
During visits to two cancer wards, staff explained the severe shortage of infusion pumps for chemotherapy, requiring drugs to be administered manually – a slower process that increases distress and discomfort for patients. In response, the appeal has now purchased 65 new infusion pumps, which will be shipped in the next Cuba Vive container. Hospitals also requested specialist surgical equipment, and more than 500 surgical instruments – including tools required for emergency tracheostomies – have now been purchased.
At this increasingly dangerous moment for Cuba, continued international solidarity is essential. The Cuba Vive appeal will therefore continue fundraising, as sending material aid directly to the island remains the most effective way to support the Cuban people at this time. Further container shipments are planned over the next two months.
Thank you to everyone who has donated, organised, and supported this vital appeal – your solidarity is making a real difference.
