Chimborazo
The summit of Mount Everest is higher above sea level, but the summit of Chimborazo is widely reported to be the farthest point on the surface from Earth's center, with Huascarán a very close second. The summit of the Chimborazo is the fixed point on Earth that has the utmost distance from the center – because of the oblate spheroid shape of the planet Earth, which is "thicker" around the Equator than measured around the poles. Chimborazo is one degree south of the Equator and the Earth's diameter at the Equator is greater than at the latitude of Everest ( above sea level), nearly 27.6° north, with sea level also elevated. Despite being lower in elevation above sea level, it is from the Earth's center, farther than the summit of Everest ( from the Earth's center). However, by height above sea level, Chimborazo is not the highest peak of the Andes.
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.