Right to Health
The CHE in Venezuela has generated serious damage to the health of millions of people, the reappearance and spread of epidemics, and thousands of deaths on the rise due to the destruction of the public health system, which has been subjected to systematic deterioration as a result of definancing, the use of resources to create a system parallel to the institutional one that dispensed with professionals and qualified workers, the exacerbation of imports and abusive foreign currency control, censorship, and the absence of official data on the health conditions and health status of the population.
The human right to health is the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health, understood as the best attainable capacity for physical, mental and social well-being and integrity, and not merely the absence of disease.
This right guarantees to all people the availability, access and enjoyment of facilities, services, medicines, inputs and trained personnel, without discrimination, in addition to food and basic services that are considered determinants of health.
It also includes freedom from coercion, violence, torture, isolation, slavery and the risk of disease due to factors that may lead to ill health. The right to health is part of the right to life, which means protection from threats by acts or omissions intended or expected to cause avoidable and/or premature death.
National Report
At least 60% of the medical assistance available in 2011 was lost between 2012 and 2017; provided by public health services to 82% of the user population.
Maternal deaths rose by 66% and child deaths by 30% from 2015 to 2016. They continue to rise until 2018, with the aggravation of malnutrition and epidemics.
The number of people treated in public psychiatric institutions decreased from 23,000 to 3,500, and those in such institutions have no food or medicine.
18.7 million people with the most prevalent, prevalent and deadly health conditions have no guarantee of access to diagnosis and treatment.
406,000 cases of malaria, generated the epidemic in 2017, with 280 deaths in 2016. 700,000 cases and 1,500 deaths are expected by 2018 due to weak anti-malarial pro-grams.
10,952 new cases of tuberculosis in 2017, intensifying in prisons due to inhumane condi-tions of overcrowding and malnutrition of the prison population.
9,362 cases of diphtheria and measles in 2018 with 230 deaths. These epidemics spread throughout the country due to internal displacement and low vaccination coverage.
More than 79,000 people with HIV have stopped receiving antiretrovirals since 2017. The number of deaths is estimated to have increased from 1,800 in 2014 to more than 5,000 in recent years.
2,500 of 15,000 people on dialysis due to kidney failure died between 2017 and 2018 due to failure, contamination, shortages and closure of dialysis units.
140,000 people with cancer and more than 300,000 with severe heart conditions are less likely to survive due to lack of diagnosis, treatment and surgery.