Health

Ebola controls established for international travelers

October 29th, 2014

Ecuador’s Ministry of Public Health has established steps to identify and treat international travelers arriving in the country who may be infected with the Ebola virus. It says that it has set protocols at the international airports in Guayaquil and Quito similar to those at airports in Europe and the U.S. Pablo Acosta, director of...

Doctors say government underestimates chikungunya threat

October 3rd, 2014

Two Manta area doctors believe that the threat of chikungunya, a painful mosquito-borne illness, is being vastly understated in Ecuador. Ministry of Health officials said on Tuesday that the country’s first case of chikungunya has been confirmed in Loja Province. The disease is spreading rapidly in Caribbean and Central American countries and has recently been...

Painful new mosquito-borne virus is spreading rapidly in Latin America; cases reported on Ecuador’s coast

September 27th, 2014

An excruciating mosquito-borne illness that arrived less than a year ago in the Americas is raging across the region, leaping from the Caribbean to the Central and South American mainland, and infecting more than 1 million people. Some cases have already emerged in the United States. While the disease, called chikungunya, is usually not fatal,...

Latin American countries taking aim at obesity and unhealthy foods while the U.S. sits on the sidelines

February 19th, 2014

Poverty and hunger will sadly always be with us. But in today’s age of abundant calories, the poor may also be obese – something governments in Latin America are waking up to. These countries are fighting junk food directly with a slew of initiatives that are making the region an incubator for ideas that could...

Doctors react cautiously to deal in malpractice dispute

January 31st, 2014

Ecuador’s doctors are reacting with cautious optimism to an agreement reached Thursday between the government and the national medical association about new malpractice rules contained in the country’s new penal code. The new code was enacted Tuesday by the National Assembly and goes into affect in six months. In the agreement, doctors agreed to let...

Doctors protest medical malpractice legislation

January 24th, 2014

Ecuador’s Medical Association is warning that a new medical malpractice laws could force hundreds of doctors out the profession. On Wednestay, 90 doctors from Pablo Arturo Suarez Hospital in Quito resigned in mass to protest the new law that, in some cases, criminalizes acts of negligence. According the medical association, resignations in other hospitals may...

Voluntary membership rules for government healthcare program being reviewed, but expats will still be eligible

January 20th, 2014

Ecuador’s Social Security administration, Instituto Ecuatoriano de Seguridad Social (IESS), is reviewing the terms of expanded voluntary membership in its health care program. A spokesman for the agency said, however, that any adjustments will not affect the eligibility of foreign residents. The review is the result of concerns that the changes could put financial stress...

Survey says that Ecuadorians are getting fatter

December 22nd, 2013

A survey by Ecuador’s Ministry of Health shows that 5.5 million Ecuadorians are overweight. The National Health and Nutrition Survey, conducted during 2013, reported that the country consumes carbohydrates — mostly in the form of sugar, potatoes and rice — in excess. Processed and fast food and lack of physical activity are also to blame,...