Health in Belize

Changing Lifestyles

"Our modern lifestyles have created new patterns of disease," Dr. Vildo Marin, Minister of Health, told Medical News Today. "We have become the victims of our own successes."

Lack of proper nutrition and undeveloped guidelines in dietary restraints add to the morbidity rate in areas of diabetes, hypertension and cardiovascular diseases. The leading cause of hospitalization is complication in pregnancy. Infant mortality remains high due to slow fetal growth, fetal malnutrition, and immaturity. HIV/AIDS is the number one cause of death for some age groups.

Natural Healing
Healing and health maintenance take many forms in Belize, from traditional to "western" styles. Through natural healing you will be introduced to the wisdom and practices of traditional, indigenous healers that combine the environment's natural resources with their own inner guidance. Some of their methods have been handed down through generations; others are blended with their own artful innovations.

Health Challenges

State of Affairs

Health Care in Belize
While the Government of Belize provides general health care and basic pharmaceuticals and private hospitals offer services for more complicated procedures, most major medical issues are still not treatable in Belize. Even when serious conditions can be treated within the country, most Belizeans do not have insurance to cover such procedures and cannot afford major medical care. Government services and other professional and community services for people with special problems, such as disabilities, are very minimal. Nationwide, there are only a handful of groups, care centers, organizations, and special educational facilities. They are generally understaffed, and focus upon a rather limited range of physical and mental handicaps. Provision for disabled persons in Cayo is inadequate, services are limited, and both trained and untrained persons serving the disabled community are few.

Poverty
Approximately one third of Belize's population lives in poverty. Often, the impoverished are unable to meet basic nutritional requirements. Poverty reduction and food security strategies are not in place, and there is no national program to ensure that students receive a nutritional meal at school. Provisions by Human Services to assist families living in poverty is very minimal and often inaccessible.

Nutrition
It is difficult to find information regarding nutrition in Belize. Nutritional information on native fruits and vegetables, nutritional standards, and nutritional policies, plans and strategies are either non-existent or hard to locate. Statistics on nutrition also remain illusive. Consequentially, there are a number of children who remain malnourished.

Inadequate Water and Sanitation
In 2006 an assessment of the water, sanitation and hygiene situation in 72 rural primary schools countrywide found that only 6 schools (less than 9%) were in compliance with international standards for student/facility ratio and the majority of the existing facilities were in a serious state of disrepair. The state of facilities is of even further concern considering the fact that many of these schools are used as hurricane shelters and that Belize is highly hurricane prone. A further study conducted in Toledo and Stann Creek District in 2007 identified three categories of problems: the non-existence of facilities, woefully substandard facilities and facilities in need of considerable maintenance and repair. The majority of schools in these districts fell under the first two categories – they either lacked functioning toilets or did not have sufficient toilets to adequately serve the student population. Children drank out of a bucket placed at the front of classrooms and hand-washing facilities were virtually nonexistent in 98% of the schools. The lack of hygiene facilities results in higher than average diarrheal disease and contributes to the 60% of children that are infested with parasites robbing children. It robs them of nutrition and dramatically impacts their learning capacity in school.