President Evo Morales launched on March 1 Bolivia’s new and free Unified Health System (SUS), which seeks to expand health coverage to the population who lacked any form of insurance.
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"In almost 20 days, 300,000 persons have been received free of charge, to begin it's a lot," Evo Morales said in the state program "El Pueblo es Noticia," about the SUS.
The government of Bolivia will allocate some US$200 million in 2019 to guarantee the sustainability of the SUS by improving its equipment, supplies, and infrastructure and increase the number of qualified healthcare professionals.
The head of state explained that one of the major objectives of the government was to build children's and mother's hospitals across the country in order to reinforce maternal and child health care and reduce infant mortality.
In the 2014 presidential elections, the candidate Morales promised to create gradually universal health insurance, which is expected to cover at least 70 percent of the Bolivian population.
Since Morales took office in 2006, he empowered rural indigenous and peasant movements that were previously on the margins of social and political life and allowed them to gain representation in elected and appointed positions as well as expanded their influence over economic and political spheres. He significantly reduced poverty in Bolivia and democratized social welfare policies.