Health in Guatemala

The Regional Chimaltenango Hospital, located in Chimaltenango
Health indicators[1][2][3]
Life expectancy 73.18 years
Infant mortality 25.57 deaths (per 1,000 live births)
Fertility rate 2.57 children
Sanitation 78.8% of population
Smoking 10.9%
Obesity in Adults 21.2%
Malnutrition (Total) 50%
Malnutrition (Rural) 70%
HIV/AIDS 0.54%

Health in Guatemala is focused on many different systems of prevention and care. Guatemala's Constitution states that every citizen has the universal right to health care.[4] However, this right has been hard to guarantee due to limited government resources and other problems regarding access. The health care system in place today developed out of the Civil War in Guatemala. The Civil War prevented social reforms from occurring, especially in the sector of health care.[5]: 6 

The Human Rights Measurement Initiative[6] finds that Guatemala is fulfilling 81.6% of what it should be fulfilling for the right to health based on its level of income.[7] When looking at the right to health with respect to children, Guatemala achieves 94.8% of what is expected based on its current income.[7] In regards to the right to health amongst the adult population, the country achieves only 87.3% of what is expected based on the nation's level of income.[7] Guatemala falls into the "very bad" category when evaluating the right to reproductive health because the nation is fulfilling only 62.9% of what the nation is expected to achieve based on the resources (income) it has available.[7]

  1. ^ "The World Factbook: Guatemala". Central Intelligence Agency. 2015.
  2. ^ "WHO Report on the Global Tobacco Epidemic, 2015: Country Profile - Guatemala" (PDF). World Health Organization. 2015.[dead link]
  3. ^ "WFP Guatemala | Brief" (PDF). United Nations World Food Programme. 2015.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference Pena1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference :1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ "Human Rights Measurement Initiative – The first global initiative to track the human rights performance of countries". humanrightsmeasurement.org. Retrieved 2022-03-18.
  7. ^ a b c d "Guatemala - HRMI Rights Tracker". rightstracker.org. Retrieved 2022-03-18.