The recent state of health in Venezuela has seen that from 1992 to 1993, there was a cholera epidemic in the

Orinoco Delta The Orinoco Delta is a vast river delta of the Orinoco River, located in eastern Venezuela. Location The Orinoco Delta is one of the eight natural regions of Venezuela. It covers the whole of Delta Amacuro State and a few square kilometers of M ...

and Venezuela's political leaders were accused of

racial profiling Racial profiling or ethnic profiling is the act of suspecting, targeting or discriminating against a person on the basis of their ethnicity, religion or nationality, rather than on individual suspicion or available evidence. Racial profiling involv ...

of their own indigenous people to deflect blame from the country's institutions, thereby aggravating the epidemic. During the 1990s, the

mortality rate Mortality rate, or death rate, is a measure of the number of deaths (in general, or due to a specific cause) in a particular population, scaled to the size of that population, per unit of time. Mortality rate is typically expressed in units of de ...

was 318 per 100,000 people for heart and heart-related diseases, 156 for

cancers Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Poss ...

, 634 for external causes (including drowning, self-harm, violence, falls, road accidents etc.), 1,126 for communicable diseases such as chest infections,

syphilis Syphilis () is a sexually transmitted infection caused by the bacterium ''Treponema pallidum'' subspecies ''pallidum''. The signs and symptoms of syphilis vary depending in which of the four stages it presents (primary, secondary, latent, an ...

, and

meningitis Meningitis is acute or chronic inflammation of the protective membranes covering the brain and spinal cord, collectively called the meninges. The most common symptoms are fever, headache, and neck stiffness. Other symptoms include confusion or ...

, and 654 for certain congenital conditions. Several transmissible diseases, including

dengue fever Dengue fever is a mosquito-borne tropical disease caused by the dengue virus. Symptoms typically begin three to fourteen days after infection. These may include a high fever, headache, vomiting, muscle and joint pains, and a characterist ...

malaria Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease that affects humans and other animals. Malaria causes symptoms that typically include fever, tiredness, vomiting, and headaches. In severe cases, it can cause jaundice, seizures, coma, or death. S ...

measles Measles is a highly contagious infectious disease caused by measles virus. Symptoms usually develop 10–12 days after exposure to an infected person and last 7–10 days. Initial symptoms typically include fever, often greater than , cough, ...

, and

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, in ...

, reappeared in Venezuela. In 1999 an estimated 62,000 Venezuelans were living with acquired immune deficiency syndrome (

AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual m ...

), and in 2001 an estimated 2,000 people died from AIDS. At the end of 2003, the percentage of the population between the ages of 15 to 49 with

human immunodeficiency virus The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of ''Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause AIDS, acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the ...

(HIV)/AIDS was 0.7. In 2000, 85% of the urban population and 70% of the rural population had access to potable water.

Sanitation Sanitation refers to public health conditions related to clean drinking water and treatment and disposal of human excreta and sewage. Preventing human contact with feces is part of sanitation, as is hand washing with soap. Sanitation systems ...

levels improved for 71% of the urban population and 48% of the rural population. In August 2001, President

Hugo Chávez Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías (; 28 July 1954 – 5 March 2013) was a Venezuelan politician who was president of Venezuela from 1999 until his death in 2013, except for a brief period in 2002. Chávez was also leader of the Fifth Republ ...

announced a national campaign to fight the dengue fever epidemic that had infected 24,000 and killed four. Child immunization for measles in 2002 (as a percentage of those under 12 months of age) dropped to 78%, compared with 84% in 1999. In August 2014, Venezuela was the only country in Latin America where the incidence of malaria was increasing, allegedly due to

illegal mining Illegal mining is mining activity that is undertaken without state permission, in particular in absence of land rights, mining licenses, and exploration or mineral transportation permits. Illegal mining can be a subsistence activity, as is the cas ...

; and in 2013, Venezuela registered the highest number of cases of malaria in the past 50 years, with 300 out of every 100,000 Venezuelans being infected with the disease. Medical shortages in the country also hampered the treatment of Venezuelans. Shortages of

antiretroviral The management of HIV/AIDS normally includes the use of multiple antiretroviral drugs as a strategy to control HIV infection. There are several classes of antiretroviral agents that act on different stages of the HIV life-cycle. The use of multipl ...

medicines to treat HIV/AIDS affected about 50,000 Venezuelans, potentially causing thousands of Venezuelans with HIV to develop AIDS. Venezuelans also stated that due to shortages of medicines, it was hard to find

acetaminophen Paracetamol, also known as acetaminophen, is a medication used to treat fever and mild to moderate pain. Common brand names include Tylenol and Panadol. At a standard dose, paracetamol only slightly decreases body temperature; it is inferior ...

to help alleviate the newly introduced

chikungunya Chikungunya is an infection caused by the ''Chikungunya virus'' (CHIKV). Symptoms include fever and joint pains. These typically occur two to twelve days after exposure. Other symptoms may include headache, muscle pain, joint swelling, and a ra ...

virus, a potentially lethal mosquito-borne disease. In September 2014, Health Minister Nancy Pérez admitted that there were 45,745 cases of dengue fever. There were also contested estimates involving the number of Venezuelans infected with chikungunya. In September 2014, the Venezuelan government stated that only 400 Venezuelans were infected with chikungunya while the

Central University of Venezuela The Central University of Venezuela (Spanish: ''Universidad Central de Venezuela''; UCV) is a public university of Venezuela located in Caracas. It is widely held to be the highest ranking institution in the country, and it also ranks 18th in L ...

stated that there could be between 65,000 and 117,000 Venezuelans infected. In August 2015, independent health monitors said that there were more than two million people infected with chikungunya while the government said there were 36,000 cases. In October 2014, President

Maduro Maduro is a surname. Notable people with the name include: Politicians * Conrad Maduro (), British Virgin Islands politicians and party leader * Nicolás Maduro (born 1962), Venezuelan president * Nicolás Maduro Guerra (born 1990), Venezuelan ...

announced a plan to create the University of Science and Health and called for a meeting of

ALBA ''Alba'' ( , ) is the Scottish Gaelic name for Scotland. It is also, in English language historiography, used to refer to the polity of Picts and Scottish people, Scots united in the ninth century as the Kingdom of Alba, until it developed i ...

to discuss measures against the

Ebola virus disease Ebola, also known as Ebola virus disease (EVD) and Ebola hemorrhagic fever (EHF), is a viral hemorrhagic fever in humans and other primates, caused by ebolaviruses. Symptoms typically start anywhere between two days and three weeks after becom ...

during the

Ebola virus epidemic in West Africa The 2013–2016 epidemic of Ebola virus disease, centered in West Africa, Western Africa, was the most widespread List of Ebola outbreaks, outbreak of the disease in history. It caused major loss of life and Socioeconomics, socioeconomic disr ...

. In 2016, according to the Venezuelan government, 240,000 cases of malaria were reported, rising 76% in one year. Former Venezuelan health minister José Félix Oletta estimated that more than 500,000 Venezuelans would contract malaria in 2017. 324 suspected diphtheria cases were reported in 2016, the first since 1992, and increasing numbers in following years, with 287 deaths up to the end of 2018. There are reports of diphtheria spreading to other South American countries from Venezuela. In April 2017 Venezuela’s health ministry reported that maternal mortality had jumped by 65% in 2016 and that the number of infant deaths rose by 30%. It also said that the number of cases of malaria was up by 76%. The ministry had not reported health data in two years, and none has been reported since. In May, Maduro sacked the health minister, Antonieta Caporale, for publishing the damning statistics. In November 2017 the Venezuelan Society of Public Health reported that a total of 857 cases of measles, of which 465 had been confirmed, had been registered. The

Pan American Health Organization The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) is an international public health agency working to improve the health and living standards of the people of the Americas. It is part of the United Nations system, serving as the Regional Office for ...

reported that at least 71% of the reported cases of measles in 2017 occurred in Venezuela.

References

{{Medicine, state=collapsed

See also

References