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The World Health Organization, WHO, has once again lauded Bolivia and its achievements in the areas of medical care, social security, water and sanitation.
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Bolivia Slashes Infant Mortality Rate by 52 Percent
With representatives from the organization, alongside its affiliate, the Pan American Health Organization, PAHO, currently supporting projects in the country, both note the advances made under the presidency of Evo Morales.
According to WHO, Bolivia has seen a 20 percent improvement in health services, five times more than the region of Latin America, which has seen improvement of just 4 percent.
"These are achievements made thanks to the unity of the people," Morales wrote on his official Twitter account.
La OMS destaca mejora del 20% del servicio de salud en Bolivia, 5 veces más que el 4% de la región. Son logros gracias a unidad del pueblo.
— Evo Morales Ayma (@evoespueblo) October 24, 2017
According to data from the country’s Ministry of Health, the government has built more than 1004 health facilities in the last 11 years.
Another 49 hospitals are to be built over the next four years.
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Bolivia Slashes Chronic Malnutrition in Children by Nearly 50 Percent
WHO and PAHO officials also praised the country’s "My Health” program, which was launched by Morales in 2013. The program provides treatment free of charge to residents in some of Bolivia’s poorest communities. The main beneficiaries are patients on low incomes who would otherwise not be able to pay to see a doctor and get prescription medication.
In August, on the 192nd anniversary of Bolivia's Independence, WHO had also praised the country’s health achievements.
Fernando Leanes, a WHO representative in Bolivia, had said the country has shown significant progress in the last decade, adding that what WHO had hoped for in many countries, Bolivia has managed to achieve.
Last month, Bolivia announced that it had slashed chronic malnutrition in children under five years old by almost half, with a reduction in cases from 32.3 percent to 16 percent. That same month, Bolivia’s health ministry also announced that it had drastically reduced its infant mortality rate, by a staggering 52 percent between 2008 and 2016.
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