Health care in Colombia

Health care in Colombia refers to the prevention, treatment, and management of illness and the preservation of mental and physical well-being through the services offered by the medical, nursing, and allied health professions in the Republic of Colombia.

The Human Rights Measurement Initiative finds that Colombia is fulfilling 94.0% of what it should be fulfilling for the right to health based on its level of income. When looking at the right to health with respect to children, Colombia achieves 96.3% of what is expected based on its current income. In regards to the right to health amongst the adult population, the country achieves only 91.7% of what is expected based on the nation's level of income. Colombia falls into the "fair" category when evaluating the right to reproductive health because the nation is fulfilling 93.9% of what the nation is expected to achieve based on the resources (income) it has available. The country is in 11th position among 200 countries when measuring the effectiveness of its health system.

Tropical diseases are important issues in Colombia because they are major causes of death. Malaria affects nearly 85% of the national territory, mainly the Pacific Ocean coast, the Amazon jungle and eastern savannas, with an estimated of 250,000 cases/year and a mortality rate of 3/100,000. The main agent is Plasmodium vivax with 66% of the cases, except on the Pacific coast, where Plasmodium falciparum causes 75% of the cases.

Yellow fever and dengue fever are major public health concerns, because of their high epidemic potential, high mortality rate and wide distribution of Aedes aegypti. The Colombian government develops vaccination campaigns against yellow fever on a regular basis.

Chagas disease is endemic to the Santander Department and nearby areas. Other diseases such as leishmaniasis, rabies, Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus and West Nile virus are also present in Colombia. Snakebites are a big concern, because of the shortage in antivenom supplies countrywide.

Different forms of malnutrition severely affect the population, especially children under five years of age, with moderate to severe rates of malnutrition of 21% and iron deficiency anemia of 23%. (see aguapanela).

In 1514, a swine plague killed a majority of the thousand inhabitants of Darién in modern-day Urabá. In 1550, Cartagena suffered an epidemic of leprosy, which they called "elefancia".

The first graduated medical doctor, Alvaro de Aunón came to New Granada from Seville, Spain, in 1597 and stayed for a short time. The first drug-store in Colombia was opened at the same time, in the main square of Bogotá by Pedro Lopez Buiza.