Chimborazo
The peak of Chimborazo is the farthest point from the center of the Earth. This is due to the Earth bulging out at the equator and Chimborazo being located just one degree south of the equator. Mount Everest is 28° north of the equator. Thus Chimborazo is 2.1 kilometres farther from the Earth's center than Everest. Chimborazo is 73.5 metres higher than the highest mountain in North America. Chimborazo is often associated with the nearby volcano Cotopaxi, although the two volcanoes have completely different structures.
Health in Ecuador
Ecuador contains three distinct climatic regions: Tropical, Highland or Sierra and Amazon rain forest. The health conditions of this country vary according to these regions. In the sierras, in cities such as Quito or Cuenca where most Ecuadorians live, health conditions most commonly associated with the tropics do not exist. For example, the types of mosquitoes which carry malaria and dengue fever cannot live at altitudes above 2300 meters (according to the US Centers for Disease Control) as is the case in virtually all of the sierras. While there does not seem to be general agreement in the medical community about the prevalence of altitude-related conditions, some visitors to the highlands may experience symptoms. The lower atmospheric pressure of the sierras affects some individuals profoundly with difficulty in breathing, nausea and dizziness but these conditions are typically not of long duration and require a period of reduced activity and conservative eating and drinking for acclimatization. Ecuadorians living most of their lives in the sierras commonly require a brief period of re-adjustment after living at sea level for prolonged periods of time. In the low-lying coastal regions and in the Amazonian region the predictable diseases of those climates exist. Malaria, for example, is according to UN sources no longer epidemic in Ecuador. Nor is Dengue Fever. According to WHO data on confirmed cases of malaria, Ecuador had 8464 cases per 100,000 population in 2007 and 544 cases in 2012 (the latest year in WHO figures). Changes in living conditions and health care appear to have had a significant effect on this condition. The potential for these diseases does exist but mostly in isolated, economically-depressed areas of the Amazon and seacoast. Many do not realize that dengue-infected mosquitoes exist in the states of the southeastern US but do not infect inhabitants on a widespread basis. Life expectancy is approximately that of the US.