The national health system of Equatorial Guinea consists of four levels: health posts in each village of 600 people, dispensaries in health centers with a qualified nurse at the intermediate level, district level hospitals, and two referral hospitals at the most centralized level. In 2004, there were an estimated 25 physicians, 40 nurses, 1 dentist, 1 pharmacist, and 2 midwives per 100,000 people.
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In 2005, the infant mortality rate was estimated at 91.16 per 1,000 live births. The maternal mortality rate in 1990 was 820 women per 100,000 live births. Life expectancy in 2005 was 49.70 years, with an overall death rate of 12.9 per 1,000 people.
Major health problems (1992 data) are preventable diseases, mainly malaria (increasingly chloroquine resistant), parasitic disease, upper respiratory infections, gastroenteritis, and complications of pregnancy. In the continental zone, sickle cell anaemia is common. Approximately 61 percent of the country’s children were immunized against measles between 1991 and 1994.
The HIV/AIDS prevalence was 3.40 per 100 adults in 2003. As of 2004, there were approximately 5,900 people living with HIV/AIDS in the country. There were an estimated 370 deaths from AIDS in 2003.
This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the Library of Congress Country Studies.
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