As of September 2008, fifteen Cuban doctors were serving in Kiribati, sixty-four Pacific students were studying medicine in Cuba, and Cuban authorities were offering "up to 400 scholarships to young people of that region" [REF].
In July 2011, the Australian government sent Parliamentary Secretary for Pacific Island Affairs Richard Marles to Cuba to discuss "ways in which [Australia] can cooperate with Cuba and its work in the Pacific, particularly in relation to health" [REF].