From NicaNet:

Illiteracy falls below 10%; Health care access skyrockets

Education Minister Miguel De Castilla reported on Oct. 25 that illiteracy now stands at 9.9%, down from 35% when President Daniel Ortega took office, the lowest level in Nicaraguan history. The Ministry of Education used the Cuban literacy program “Yes I can” to achieve the reduction. De Castilla recalled that the great National Literacy Campaign of 1980 reduced illiteracy from 52% to 12.9%, but, he said, under the neoliberal governments since 1990, illiteracy had climbed again. He stated that the goal was to reduce the rate to zero by the 30th anniversary of the Sandinista revolution on July 19 and to be able to announce at the celebration that Nicaragua was free of illiteracy. He said that in the last 19 months fundamental structural changes have been made in education in Nicaragua and added that, for 2009, his goals were to advance in mathematics and science. De Castillo said, “We have to understand that this is just one of the battles of our government, the battle for Housing for the Poor, Zero Usury, Zero Hunger, Program “Love”, all are programs in a single battle against poverty.”

Minister of Health Guillermo Gonzalez on October 21 said that use of the public hospitals and health centers has grown by 40% in 2008 over 2007 and in 2007 it grew 50% over the previous year. “The lack of doctors has been a struggle we are confronting. It is a complicated subject that can only be solved with financial investment,” he said. He added that the demand for free medicine and treatment has put pressure on the health care system. “Appointments have grown by 40% over the previous year and the same for surgery,” Gonzalez said. “We have calculated that by the end of the year we will have spent US$30.75 million on medicines and we have had to ask for a budget increase for 2009,” he explained. He said that the government is investing millions of dollars to develop the hospitals and health centers, which he called “the reestablishment of a right” of the population. “In 21 months the government has transformed the health care system from a model of attention just to injuries and disease into a conception centering on the family, the community, and the person seeking treatment,” he said.