Adolfo Juan Valdivia Domínguez

Dr. Adolfo Juan Valdivia Domínguez, who distinguished himself as an epidemiologist in national and international tasks, both during moments of natural disasters and during armed conflicts; and who for a decade of his life was the national leader of the Health Workers Union, Deputy to the National Assembly of People's Power and Member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba.

Born in Sancti Spíritus, he completed his primary studies until graduating as a Bachelor in his native city, participating in various revolutionary student activities until moving to La Habana to study medicine, a period during which he collaborated with the 26 de Julio movement.

With the triumph of the Revolution, he was a founder of the Rural Medical Service and participated as a physician in the cleanup of the Escambray, subsequently assuming various responsibilities in the Health System in the current provinces of Sancti-Spíritus, Holguín, Villa Clara, and at the national level, as National Chief of Epidemiology.

In 1977, at the celebration of the II National Congress of the Health Workers Union, he did not hesitate for a moment to leave his position as national health director to assume the position of General Secretary of the National Union, a responsibility he fulfilled for 11 years, traveling throughout the country, visiting the different workplaces and participating in their Workers' Assemblies. From this position, he also served on various Cuban delegations to numerous international scientific, legislative, administrative, and union events.

His professional and social commitment led him to be present in different internationalist missions, standing out especially in directing Cuban medical brigades that provided assistance during the Callejón de Huaylas Earthquake in Peru in 1970; the Managua earthquake in Nicaragua in 1972; during the Arab-Israeli War in Syria in 1970; and on the occasion of Hurricane Fifi in Honduras in 1974.

He was a Delegate to the I Congress of the PCC in 1975, elected Member of its Central Committee at the II Congress and ratified at the III Congress. He was elected Deputy to the National Assembly of People's Power for the Municipality of Cueto, Holguín, in the 2nd Legislature and Reelected in the 3rd Legislature (1981-1991).

For his merits, he received multiple recognitions and decorations, among which stand out the National Hero of Labor, Commander of the Hipólito Unaune Order of Peru, and the Syrian Order of Merit.

An experienced epidemiologist, a capable researcher in his area of knowledge, he shared his contributions in several specialized journals in Hygiene and Epidemiology, both national and international.

At the time of his death at 82 years of age, he was engaged in research on Mortality of the Elderly in the Plaza de la Revolución Municipality of La Habana.

Source: Infomed.