Health & Wellness

• LIFE EXPECTANCY:

  • General Population: Women 73 yrs and men 66 years of age.

  • Maya Population: Women 56 yrs and men 48 years of age.

• INFANT MORTALITY RATE (2011 EST.)

  • General Population: 26.02 deaths per 1,000 live births

  • Maya Population: 150 deaths per 1,000 live births.

• In general, the level of health care in Guatemala is very poor and there are serious untreated health problems in the rural areas.

• The lack of proper facilities and medical personnel in the countryside helps account for the high infant mortality rate.

• The mortality rate for children under 5 years is 39%.

• The main causes of infant and child mortality are diarrhea, respiratory infections, and childbirth problems all of which are relatively easy to prevent with necessary resources.

• One of the major challenges for health service delivery is monolingualism, especially among the Maya, who speak their Maya mother tongue but not Spanish, the country's official language.