there was a cholera epidemic in the Orinoco Delta and Venezuela's political leaders were accused of racial profiling of their own indigenous people to deflect blame from the country's institutions, thereby aggravating the epidemic. During the 1990s, the mortality rate was 318 per 100,000 population for diseases of the [cardiac system], 156 for cancers, 634 for external causes (including drowning, self-harm, violence, falls, road accidents etc., 1126 for communicable diseases such as chest infections, syphilis, meningitis, and 654 for certain conditions originating before birth. Bolivarian Revolution Following the Bolivarian Revolution and the establishment of the Bolivarian government, improvements in healthcare were promising due to the installation of free healthcare facilities and programs, and the assistance of Cuban medical professionals. The Bolivarian government's failure to concentrate on healthcare, the reduction of healthcare spending, and government corruption eventually affected medical practices in Venezuela causing avoidable deaths along with an emigration of medical professionals to other countries. Venezuela's reliance on imported goods and its complicated exchange rates (initiated by Hugo Chávez) led to increasing shortages during the late-2000s and into the 2010s that affected the availability of medicines and medical equipment in the country. 2000s [[File:Venezuela's health expenditure; 1999 -.png|350px|thumbnail|right|Healthcare spending by percentage of Venezuela's GDP.Source: World Bank] Several transmissible diseases, including dengue fever, malaria, measles, and tuberculosis, reappeared in Venezuela. In 1999 an estimated 62,000 Venezuelans were living with acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS); and in 2001 an estimated 2,000 people died from AIDS. At the end of 2003, the percentage of the population between the ages of 15 to 49 with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/AIDS was 0.7. In 2000, 85% of the urban population and 70% of the rural population had access to improved water. Improved sanitation was available to 71% of the urban population and 48% of the rural population. In August 2001, President Hugo Chávez announced a national campaign to fight the dengue fever epidemic that had infected 24,000 and killed four. Child immunization for measles in 2002 (as a percentage of under 12 months) dropped to 78%, compared with 84% in 1999. Throughout Hugo Chávez's presidency, the Health Ministry changed ministers multiple times. According to a high-ranking official of Venezuela's Health Ministry, the ministers were treated as scapegoats whenever issues with Venezuela's public health arose. The official also detailed ways Health Ministry officials would perform illicit acts in order to enrich themselves by selling goods designated for public