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7 Facts About Healthcare in Paraguay

7 Facts About Healthcare in ParaguayIn recent years, Paraguay has improved its infant mortality rate, healthcare facility spending and health care resources. Yet, there is still much to do to improve healthcare in Paraguay. Here are seven ways the Paraguayan government is working to improve healthcare in Paraguay.

7 Facts about Healthcare in Paraguay

  1. Paraguay has far fewer healthcare workers than needed to provide adequate care for patients in rural areas. In fact, 70% of healthcare workers are allocated in the city of Asunción despite only 30% of the population living in that area.
  2. The World Bank approved a loan to Paraguay to help improve its healthcare structure. In May of 2019, the World Bank approved a $115 million loan to allow Paraguay to develop health treatments for mothers, newborn children and people who suffer from chronic health conditions. With the help of this loan, the quality of healthcare will increase in Paraguay in the coming years.
  3. The current life expectancy for people in Paraguay is 74.1 years. In 1990, the life expectancy in Paraguay was 68.5 years. Innovations in medicine, an increase in healthcare spending and resources have all contributed to the increase in the Paraguayan life expectancy. Although Paraguay has increased its life expectancy in the last 30 years, the country still has a long way to go to meet the life expectancy of more developed nations.
  4. The average amount spent on healthcare per capita in Paraguay is cause for great concern. In 2017, the average healthcare spending per capita for one year was $381. This number is a fraction of what developed nations spend on healthcare. As middle and lower-income Paraguans do not have the financial resources to pay for healthcare, they do not go to doctors or hospitals unless it is necessary. Lack of doctor visits and preventative care will cause further health issues and the onset of chronic health conditions for Paraguans in the future.
  5. Paraguay has very few hospital beds compared to the beds needed to care for the sick population. Paraguay has about one hospital bed per 1000 people, which is almost a third of the hospital beds the United States has. Having enough hospital beds is essential to caring for the vulnerable population, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Paraguay is in urgent need of more hospitals. Paraguay is building contingent hospitals to help care for more sick patients, but these hospitals will only help with the hospital bed shortage in the short term.
  6. Paraguay still has a relevantly high infant mortality rate. As of 2019, the infant mortality rate in Paraguay was 16.6 infant deaths per 1000 live births. This is almost three times the infant mortality rate of the United States. Most of the infants died of diseases such as pneumonia, the flu and diarrheal diseases.
  7. Paraguay does not have sufficient mental health resources. In Paraguay, there are only two mental health hospitals, no mental healthcare plan for adolescents and no stand-alone laws for mental health issues. Currently, 908,117 people in Paraguay suffer from mental health issues. To help the mentally ill population, Paraguay needs more resources to finance more mental health institutions. Paraguay also needs to create mental health plans and institute laws to help the mentally ill.

Overall, Paraguay has made many improvements over the years, including infant mortality rate, healthcare spending and resources. However, Paraguay is still far from being caught up with higher-income nations. With the help of foreign aid and instituting more health care policies, Paraguay may develop a stronger healthcare system. In the coming years, Paraguay will hopefully eradicate diseases prevalent in the country and establish a better system to help with the medical needs of the population.

– Hannah Drzewiecki
Photo: Flickr

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An Update on Living Conditions in Paraguay

Living Conditions in Paraguay

Paraguay, a country located in central South America, is bordered between Argentina, Bolivia, and Brazil. Being a more-homogenous country, most of the population are of European and Guaranί ancestry. Guarani is a South American Indian group that lived mainly in Paraguay, which spoke a Tupian language. Many Paraguayans can understand Guarani rather than Spanish, which allowed the official language to become Guarani in 1992. With the growth of exportation, Paraguay has continued to thrive in others as well. Among the list of advancements in Paraguay are economic growth, health care, the country becoming Malaria free, and many technological advancements, that have allowed the country into today’s world.

Economic Growth and Living Conditions in Paraguay

When the economy grows, the lowering of extreme poverty goes hand-in-hand. For the past 15 years, extreme poverty has “fallen by 49 and 65 percent, respectively.” In 2018, however, Paraguay’s economic growth suffered in the second half of the year due to the “performance of the main trading partners, especially Argentina” and has continued to weaken since the recent drought, impacting agricultural products.

Due to inflation from the Argentina crisis, there was a decrease in public investment by 11.8 percent in 2018. However, public wages increased by 9.5 percent. International investors believed in macroeconomic management, boosting their Eurobond by 5.4 percent.

The poverty rate, however, is less than half of what it was in 2003.

Health Care and Living Conditions in Paraguay

Another aspect among advancements in Paraguay is in mortality. Life expectancy in Paraguay for males is 72 and 78 for females. The healthcare system is drastically understaffed with 11.1 doctors and 17.9 nurses and midwives to 10,000 people in the population. Paraguay’s government spends up to 37.7 percent toward health care. However, 87.7 percent of health care comes out of pocket. Health care coverage has begun to increase since 2008. It is still not where it needs to be. Less than 10 percent of total health spending comes from NGOs and other external resources.

While many who live in urban areas have improved access to clean water, those living in rural areas are not as fortunate. About 60 percent of inhabitants have access to clean water. This is better than the 25 percent who had access in 1990.

HIV and TB are below average. However, in neighboring countries like Argentina and Brazil, there is an outbreak of HIV. Poor urban countries tend to contribute to the under-reporting of TB. For these reasons, anyone who travels should take routine tests and checkups just be safe.

To ensure that there are more health care facilities to assist the country’s population, the national health care system has created public sectorss. These include:

  • Ministry of Public Health and Social Welfare
  • Military, Police and Navy Health Services
  • Institute of Social Welfare (IPS)
  • Clinics Hospital, which is part of the National University of Asuncion
  • Maternal and Children’s Health Center
  • Paraguayan Red Cross

One major improvement regarding living conditions in Paraguay has to do with health care. Paraguay became the first country in the region to be free of Malaria since Cuba in 1973. With no detection of the disease in five years, Paraguay was declared malaria-free in 2018 since Sri Lanka in 2016. Although Paraguay is malaria-free, other countries are still facing the disease. However, it gives hope to other countries that they can become malaria-free as well.

Technological Advancements and Living Conditions in Paraguay

Paraguay’s Space Agency (AEP), founded in 2014, is currently training specialists. AEP hopes to gain the interest of young children with the idea of space and astronomy. By 2021, Paraguay hopes to launch the first satellite. Research centers have already started to develop CubeSat, which is a type of miniaturized satellite. It will be used for forest monitoring and cadastral mapping.

BBVA (Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria) is a Spanish bank that has sponsored the League since 2008. BBVA prioritizes ensuring that Paraguay is digitally connected. About 68 percent of the population owns a smartphone. Additionally, 76 percent have access to the internet. BBVA wants “to bring the age of opportunity to everyone through the implementation of an ambitious transformation plan, encompassing not only processes and structures but also our culture and the way we get things done.” More and more people are using their access to the internet and smartphones to communicate with others.

Advancements in Paraguay have allowed the country to move forward with new opportunities to ensure that those in rural areas will continue to grow from extreme poverty. Even with a few setbacks along the way, Paraguay can grow economically, gain more health care opportunities and develop more ideas for technological advancements.

– Emilia Rivera
Photo: U.S. Dept of Defense