📰 Ecuador · page 6

The philosophy of the Ministry of Public Health is the social support and service to the most vulnerable population,[199] and its main plan of action lies around communitarian health and preventive medicine.[199]512 Many American medical groups often conduct medical missions away from the big cities to provide medical health to poor communities.513

The public healthcare system allows patients to be treated without an appointment in public general hospitals by general practitioners and specialists in the outpatient clinic (Consulta Externa) at no cost.514 This is done in the four basic specialties of pediatric, gynecology, clinic medicine, and surgery.[200]515 There are also public hospitals specialized to treat chronic diseases, target a particular group of the population, or provide better treatment in some medical specialties.516

Although well-equipped general hospitals are found in the major cities or capitals of provinces, there are basic hospitals in the smaller towns and canton cities for family care consultation and treatments in pediatrics, gynecology, clinical medicine, and surgery.[200]517

Community health care centers (Centros de Salud) are found inside metropolitan areas of cities and in rural areas.518 These are day hospitals that provide treatment to patients whose hospitalization is under 24 hours.[200]519 The doctors assigned to rural communities, where the Amerindian population can be substantial, have small clinics under their responsibility for the treatment of patients in the same fashion as the day hospitals in the major cities.520 The treatment in this case respects the culture of the community.[200]521

The public healthcare system should not be confused with the Ecuadorian Social Security healthcare service, which is dedicated to individuals with formal employment and who are affiliated obligatorily through their employers.522 Citizens with no formal employment may still contribute to the social security system voluntarily and have access to the medical services rendered by the social security system.523 The Ecuadorian Institute of Social Security (IESS) has several major hospitals and medical sub-centers under its administration across the nation.[201]524

Ecuador currently ranks 20, in most efficient health care countries, compared to 111 back in the year 2000.[202]525 Ecuadorians have a life expectancy of 77.1 years.[203]526 The infant mortality rate is 13 per 1,000 live births,[204] a major improvement from approximately 76 in the early 1980s and 140 in 1950.[205]527 Almost a quarter, or 23%, of children under five are chronically malnourished.[204]528 Population in some rural areas have no access to potable water, and its supply is provided by mean of water tankers.529 There are 686 malaria cases per 100,000 people.[206]530 Basic health care, including doctor's visits, basic surgeries, and basic medications, has been provided free since 2008.[204]531 However, some public hospitals are in poor condition and often lack necessary supplies to attend the high demand of patients.532 Private hospitals and clinics are well equipped but still expensive for the majority of the population.533

Between 2008 and 2016, new public hospitals have been built.534 In 2008, the government introduced universal and compulsory social security coverage.535 In 2015, corruption remains a problem.536 Overbilling is recorded in 20% of public establishments and in 80% of private establishments.[207]537

Education

Main article: Education in Ecuador

The Ecuadorian Constitution requires that all children attend school until they achieve a "basic level of education", which is estimated at nine school years.[208]538 In 1996, the net primary enrollment rate was 96.9%, and 71.8% of children stayed in school until the fifth grade/age 10.[208]539 The cost of primary and secondary education is borne by the government, but families often face significant additional expenses such as fees and transportation costs.[208]540

Provision of public schools falls far below the levels needed, and class sizes are often very large, and families of limited means often find it necessary to pay for education.[209]541 In rural areas, only 10% of the children go on to high school.[210]542 In a 2015 report, The Ministry of Education states that in 2014 the mean number of school years completed in rural areas is 7.39 as compared to 10.86 in urban areas.[211]543

Culture

Main article: Culture of Ecuador

Ecuador's dominant culture is defined by its mestizo majority and, like its ancestry, is traditionally of Spanish heritage, influenced in different degrees by Amerindian traditions and in some cases by Spanish elements non-Europeans and Africans.544 The first and most substantial wave of modern immigration to Ecuador consisted of Spanish colonist, following the arrival of Europeans in 1499.545 A lower number of other Europeans and North Americans migrated to the country in the late 19th and early 20th centuries and in smaller numbers, Poles, Lithuanians, English, Irish, Croatians and some cases from Asia during and after the Second World War.546

Ecuador's Amerindian communities are integrated into the mainstream culture to varying degrees,[212] but some may also practice their own native cultures, particularly the more remote Amerindian communities of the Amazon basin.547 Spanish is spoken as the first language by more than 90% of the population and as a first or second language by more than 98%.548 Part of Ecuador's population can speak Amerindian languages; in some cases, they are used as a second language.549 Two percent of the population speak only Amerindian languages.550

Art

The best known art styles from Ecuador belonged to the Escuela Quiteña (Quito School), which developed from the 16th to 18th centuries, examples of which are on display in various old churches in Quito.551 Ecuadorian painters include Eduardo Kingman, Oswaldo Guayasamín, and Camilo Egas from the Indiginist Movement; Manuel Rendón, Jaime Zapata, Enrique Tábara, Aníbal Villacís, Theo Constanté, Luis Molinari, Araceli Gilbert, Judith Gutiérrez, Félix Aráuz, and Estuardo Maldonado from the Informalist Movement; Teddy Cobeña from expressionism and figurative style[213][214][215] and Luis Burgos Flor with his abstract, futuristic style.552 The Amerindian people of Tigua, Ecuador, are also world-renowned for their traditional paintings.[216]553

Literature

Main article: Ecuadorian literature

Early literature in colonial Ecuador, as in the rest of Spanish America, was influenced by the Spanish Golden Age.554 One of the earliest examples is Jacinto Collahuazo,[217] an Amerindian chief of a northern village in today's Ibarra, born in the late 1600s.555 Despite the early repression and discrimination of the native people by the Spanish, Collahuazo learned to read and write in Castilian, but his work was written in Quechua.556 The use of Quipu was banned by the Spanish,[218] and in order to preserve their work, many Inca poets had to resort to the use of the Latin alphabet to write in their native Quechua language.557 The history behind the Inca drama "Ollantay", the oldest literary piece in existence for any Amerindian language in America,[219] shares some similarities with the work of Collahuazo.558 Collahuazo was imprisoned and all of his work burned.559 The existence of his literary work came to light many centuries later, when a crew of masons was restoring the walls of a colonial church in Quito and found a hidden manuscript.560 The salvaged fragment is a Spanish translation from Quechua of the "Elegy to the Dead of Atahualpa",[217] a poem written by Collahuazo, which describes the sadness and impotence of the Inca people of having lost their king Atahualpa.561

Other early Ecuadorian writers include the Jesuits Juan Bautista Aguirre, born in Daule in 1725, and Father Juan de Velasco, born in Riobamba in 1727.562 Famous authors from the late colonial and early republic period include Eugenio Espejo, a printer and main author of the first newspaper in Ecuadorian colonial times; Jose Joaquin de Olmedo (born in Guayaquil), famous for his ode to Simón Bolívar titled Victoria de Junin; Juan Montalvo, a prominent essayist and novelist; Juan Leon Mera, famous for his work "Cumanda" or "Tragedy among Savages" and the Ecuadorian National Anthem; Juan A. Martinez with A la Costa; Dolores Veintimilla;[220] and others.563

Contemporary Ecuadorian writers include the novelist Jorge Enrique Adoum; the poet Jorge Carrera Andrade; the essayist Benjamín Carrión; the poets Medardo Angel Silva, Jorge Carrera Andrade, Emanuel Xavier and Luis Alberto Costales; the novelist Enrique Gil Gilbert; the novelist Jorge Icaza (author of the novel Huasipungo, translated to many languages); the short story author Pablo Palacio; and the novelist Alicia Yanez Cossio.564

Music

Main article: Music of Ecuador

The music of Ecuador has a long history.565 Pasillo is a genre of indigenous Latin music.566 In Ecuador it is the "national genre of music".567 Through the years, many cultures have brought their influences together to create new types of music.568 There are also different kinds of traditional music like albazo, pasacalle, fox incaico, tonada, capishca, Bomba (highly established in Afro-Ecuadorian societies), and so on.569 Tecnocumbia and Rockola are clear examples of the influence of foreign cultures.570 One of the most traditional forms of dancing in Ecuador is Sanjuanito.571 It is originally from northern Ecuador (Otavalo-Imbabura).572 Sanjuanito is a type of dance music played during festivities by the mestizo and Amerindian communities.573 According to the Ecuadorian musicologist Segundo Luis Moreno, Sanjuanito was danced by Amerindian people during San Juan Bautista's birthday.574 This important date was established by the Spaniards on 24 June, coincidentally the same date when Amerindian people celebrated their rituals of Inti Raymi.575

Media

Main article: Television in Ecuador, List of newspapers in Ecuador

Cuisine

Main article: Ecuadorian cuisine

Further information: List of Ecuadorian dishes and foods

Ecuadorian cuisine is diverse, varying with the altitude, associated agricultural and environmental conditions, and ethnic/racial communities.576 Most regions in Ecuador follow the traditional three-course meal of soup: a course that includes rice and a protein, and then dessert and coffee to finish.577 Agricultural products from the plantations of the Costa, Sierra, and Oriente regions are bananas, cocoa beans, coffee, sugar, potatoes, corn, barley, rice, wheat, and tropical fruits.[221]578

In the coastal region, seafood is prevalent, with prepared fish, shrimps, and ceviche being an integral part of the diet.579 Beef is also notably consumed in the coastal region; traditional dishes are churrasco and arroz con menestra y carne asada (rice with beans and grilled beef) served with fried plantain.580 The latter is an emblematic dish of the city of Guayaquil.581 Meat-based dishes have their origins in the cattle ranching culture of the Montubio people.582

Ceviche is a staple coastal dish with pre-Incan origins.583 It is often served with fried plantain (chifle or patacones), popcorn, or tostado.584 Plantain- and peanut-based dishes are quite frequent in the coastal region, reflecting the West African roots of many of its citizens.585 Encocados (dishes that contain a coconut sauce) are also very popular in the northern coast, centering around the city of Esmeraldas.586 The coast is also a leading producer of bananas, cocoa beans, prepared fish, shrimps, tilapia, mango, and passion fruit, among other tropical fruits.[221]587

Pan de yuca, analogous with the Brazilian pão de queijo, is served with yogur persa and is often eaten as a snack in many coastal cities.588 Its origin comes from the Persian and Arab populations that settled on the coastal regions of Ecuador and Argentina corpus.[222]589 In the Amazon region, a dietary staple is the yuca, elsewhere called cassava.590 Many fruits are available in this region, including bananas, tree grapes, and peach palms.[223]591

In the highland region, various dishes of pork, chicken, and cuy (guinea pig)[224] are popular, and are usually served with a variety of grains (especially rice, mote, and potatoes).[225]592 The consumption of cuy is prevalent among the Indigenous peoples of Ecuador, and reflects the predominantly native character of the highlands.593

Sports

Main article: Sport in Ecuador

The most popular sport in Ecuador, as in most South American countries, is football.594 Its best known professional teams include; Emelec from Guayaquil, Liga De Quito from Quito; Barcelona S.C. from Guayaquil, Independiente del Valle from Sangolqui, the most popular team in Ecuador, also the team with most local championships; Deportivo Quito, and El Nacional from Quito; Olmedo from Riobamba; and Deportivo Cuenca from Cuenca.595 Currently the most successful football team in Ecuador is LDU Quito, and it is the only Ecuadorian team that has won the Copa Libertadores; they were also runners-up in the 2008 FIFA Club World Cup.596 The Estadio Monumental Isidro Romero Carbo is the tenth largest football stadium in South America.597 The Ecuador national football team has appeared at five FIFA World Cups.[226]598

See also

Outline of Ecuador

Further reading

Ades, H. and Graham, M. (2010) The Rough Guide to Ecuador, Rough Guides

Becker, M. (2008) Indians and Leftists in the Making of Ecuador's Modern Indigenous Movements, Duke University Press Books

Becker, M. and Clark, A. K. (2007) Highland Indians and the State in Modern Ecuador, University of Pittsburgh Press

Blakenship, J. (2005) Cañar: A Year in the Highlands of Ecuador, University of Texas Press

Brown, J. and Smith, J. (2009) Moon Guidebook: Ecuador and the Galápagos Islands, Avalon Travel Publishing

Crowder, N. (2009) Culture Shock! Ecuador: A Survival Guide to Customs and Etiquette, Marshall Cavendish Corporation

Gerlach, A. (2003) Indians, Oil, and Politics: A Recent History of Ecuador, SR Books

Handelsman, M. H. (2008) Culture and Customs of Ecuador, Greenwood

Hurtado, O. (2010) Portrait of a Nation: Culture and Progress in Ecuador, Madison Books

O'Connor, E. (2007) Gender, Indian, Nation: The Contradictions of Making Ecuador, 1830–1925, University of Arizona Press

Pineo, R. (2007) Ecuador and the United States: Useful Strangers, University of Georgia Press

Roos, W. and Van Renterghem, O. (2000) Ecuador in Focus: A Guide to the People, Politics, and Culture, Latin America Bureau

Sawyer, S. (2004) Crude Chronicles: Indigenous Politics, Multinational Oil, and Neoliberalism in Ecuador, Duke University Press Books

Striffler, S. (2001) In the Shadows of State and Capital: The United Fruit Company, Popular Struggle, and Agrarian Restructuring in Ecuador – 1900–1995, Duke University Press Books

Torre, C. de la and Striffler, S. (2008) The Ecuador Reader: History, Culture, Politics, Duke University Press Books

Various (2010) Insight Guidebook: Ecuador & Galápagos, Insight Guides

Various (2009) Lonely Planet Guide: Ecuador & the Galápagos Islands, Lonely Planet

Whitten, N. E. (2011) Histories of the Present: People and Power in Ecuador, University of Illinois Press

Whitten, N. E. (2003) Millennial Ecuador: Critical Essays on Cultural Transformations and Social Dynamics, University Of Iowa Press

External links

President of Ecuador

CIA Library Site: Chief of State and Cabinet Members

Ecuador. The World Factbook. Central Intelligence Agency.

Ecuador at UCB Libraries GovPubs

Ecuador profile from the BBC News