Benefits boost to lift childbirth rate

Free IVF among measures to slow Cuba's aging population trend

HAVANA - On the second Sunday in May, Cuba celebrates Mother's Day with unique fervor: phone lines collapse from overload, people scramble to buy flowers before they sell out, and restaurants are packed to the rafters with extended families.

For more than a decade, Kenia Coba, a resident of the central province of Cienfuegos, about 220 kilometers southeast of Havana, dreamed of one day being the center of that attention.