By Shephard Majengete

SANCTIONS have been with us for more than two decades.

And Zimbabwe should not be discouraged by the illegal economic sanctions imposed by the US, Britain and their allies from achieving economic progress.

Zimbabweans must see and use the embargos as a blessing to open up new opportunities as we rebuild the economy.

To achieve Vision 2030, of an upper-middle income economy, we must look at, and take notes from, countries like Iran and Cuba that are also under sanctions imposed by the West led by the US.

We can do it, we are doing it and should continue doing it, on our own, using our own resources.

The Iranian economy, for instance, is based on local actors.

Western sanctions will not destroy a country that relies on its own people.

Sanctions should be translated into opportunities.

As a people, it is critical that we continue to explore opportunities and use our capacities to leap frog where others crawled.

A people, a nation, who have managed to successfully withstand the effects of illegal economic sanctions for more than a decade, have the potential to reconstruct their economy on their own.

The nation will survive and thrive on its own capacity and the willingness of the masses to build the economy.

Instead of crying foul, whining and complaining, there is a need for hard work and exploring more opportunities inside and outside the country to bring more value to Zimbabwe.

It is not the whole world that has been shut to us; there are many other progressive thriving nations ready to do business with us.

Let us take a leaf from countries like Cuba.

Speaking after meeting with Cuban Charge d’affaires Yoisy Ford Garcia, Health and Child Care Minister Dr Douglas Mombeshora said the country, in partnership with the Cuban Embassy, will soon establish manufacturing plants for vaccines and other drugs to improve the country’s local drug industry.

And what has Cuba done?

Cuba launched the world’s first lung cancer vaccine, Cimavax, to the public, back in 2011.

Each shot costs about US$1, but the Cuban government made the vaccine available to the public for free.

Cimavax inhibits lung cancer from spreading or metastasising to other parts of the body.

While Cimavax was developed, and is currently only licensed for lung cancer, researchers are hopeful that it could be used for other cancers.

In 2012, Cuba patented Cimavax, becoming the first therapeutic vaccine in the world.

And in January 2013, Cuba announced the second cancer vaccine, Racotumomab.

Clinical tests carried out in 86 nations revealed that the vaccines reduce cancer tumours, thereby improving the quality and life expectancy of patients. 

According to Wikipedia: “In 2023, Racotumomab will be administered in patients who have previously received the oncospecific treatment established in the oncological therapeutic standards (surgery, chemotherapy and radiation therapy). 

A Racotumomab-alum solution is administered by intradermal injection every 14 days for the first two months (five doses), followed by monthly booster doses.

Racotumomab is well tolerated by patients. 

The overall toxicity of the vaccine has been classified as Grade 1 and 2, according to the NCI common toxicity criteria (version 3.0). treatment is mostly associated with mild to moderate injection-site reactions (local erythema, induration and pain), which disappear within 24-48 hours. systemic reactions, such as flu-like symptoms and chills are less frequent, reversible, and self-limited.”

The vaccines, which were created by the Havana-based molecular immunology centre, are an indicator that despite grappling decades of sanctions by America, Cuba has been pioneering the health frontier and came out successful despite the odds. 

The centre has also developed the anti-cancer drug, nimotuzumab, to treat advanced tumours in the head, neck and brain.

As of information on Wikipedia 2023, the toxicity and safety of nimotuzumab have been assessed in several pre-clinical and clinical studies wherein it was noticed that side effects usually caused by egfr inhibitors, especially rashes and other skin toxicities, were negligible. 

Scientists have hypothesised that this is because nimotuzumab binds only to cells that express moderate to high egfr levels. 

Nimotuzumab has been found to be very well tolerated in clinical trials.

The drug is currently going through clinical trials in Japan and Europe.

One would think that such scientific breakthroughs would be coming out of America’s vast and well equipped laboratories but now they are coming out of Havana and the irony is that the US now has to turn to Cuba.

Zimbabwe stands to benefit and learn a lot from co-operating with Cuba.

Cuba not only offers lower health care for its citizens, but it produces generic drugs and puts this at the service of other developing countries and WHO, at a price which is much lower than those imposed by Western pharmaceuticals.

Even in times of economic hardship, the Cuban government has remained constant in its political and financial support for biotechnology.

In the last 25 years, it has invested around US$1 billion in research and development.

The Cuban biotech industry holds around 1 200 international patents and markets pharmaceutical products and vaccines in more than 50 countries.

Interestingly, as relations between Cuba and the US have somewhat thawed, one of the first actions that the US has done is seek access to the cancer vaccines.

In the Second Republic, Zimbabwe has not only shown, but proved that it can survive and thrive using its own resources.

All we need to do is continue working hard, staying the development course.

On our own, using local resources, we will achieve our Vision 2030 goals.