Health Care In Honduras

As a nation, Honduras has to support a population of a little over 8 million people. As a country, it is placed a little south of Mexico and north west of El Salvador, and is relatively small, with around 112,492km counting for its total area (CIA). For its culture, Honduras, like most other states in the Americas, hosts mix of many cultures, some from native Americans and others from immigration. With this sizable population, it is an understatement to say that Honduras has a tough burden when it comes to health care. Specifically, the Honduran government has to provide the necessary food, medication and education that each Honduran needs in order to live well. Hondurans themselves have a hard time trying to meet these needs, and more often …show more content…
However, Honduras’ current healthcare system is plagued with many problems. First off, not every clinic has a doctor or nurse who willingly serves their patients (Tegucigalpa). The problem with this is that Honduras suffers from a lower number of working clinics and hospitals, one that is already too low for the country (Tegucigalpa). Furthermore, most hospitals in Honduras are both funded and controlled by the government (Tegucigalpa). By doing this, the government of Honduras is attempting to keep each medical facility under their control, the only downside to this is that because the government is stationed in Tegucigalpa, it has very little oversight on clinics placed further away from the capital (Tegucigalpa). This is a recurring problem for the government, since it must pay for these inadequate clinics, thus creating an unneeded deficit for Honduras (Tegucigalpa). Compounded with this problem is the fact that the government spends only 8.7% of its GDP on providing health care for everyone (WHO 2013). Out of the 8.7% that is spent on providing healthcare, only 2% of that amount is spent on providing resources for mental health (WHO, 2013). The rest of these resources are spent on providing treatments and drugs for physical problems (WHO, 2013). Of the 2% that is spent on mental health, half of that money is spent on keeping patients in mental hospitals, the rest is spent on non-hospital mental health (WHO, 2013). Of the patient population that does use the mental hospitals, three fourths of them are women, eight percent are children and the rest of the population is relatively diverse (WHO, 2013). One of the reasons for the high ratio of women representation of mental patients would be the rampant sexual assault in Honduras. Many international aid organizations are trying to help the government provide for