Aside from providing asylum to WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, Ecuador has progressed leaps and bounds in the past two decades. From nearly going bankrupt on multiple occasions to creating a new constitution, the country is placing education and health at the top of its agenda.

This is from Article 32 of the constitution, which went into effect in 2008:

Health is a right guaranteed by the state and whose fulfilment is linked to the exercise of other rights, including the right to water, food, education, sport, work, social security, a healthy environment and everything that promotes well-being. The state shall guarantee this right by implementing economic social, cultural, educational and environmental policies. It shall guarantee permanent, timely and non-exclusive access to programmes, actions and services promoting and providing comprehensive healthcare and reproductive health. The provision of healthcare services shall be governed by the principles of equity, universality, solidarity, interculturalism, quality, efficiency, effectiveness, prevention, and bioethics with a fair gender and generational approach.

The health care implementations have been a big undertaking by President Rafael Correa, whose public investments have exceeded $9 billion (the previous four governments spent a combined $2.6 billion on health care). We have yet to fully see where this will take Ecuador, but for now you can read more here.

—Posted by Donald Kaufman