Miss Venezuela 2016 beauty pageant contestants take part in a practice session and media presentation in Caracas, Venezuela October 3, 2016. (Photo by Marco Bello/Reuters)

Venezuela's food shortages, inflation and crumbling medical sector have become such a source of anguish that a growing number of young women are reluctantly opting for sterilizations rather than face the hardship of pregnancy and child-rearing. Traditional contraceptives like condoms or birth control pills have virtually vanished from store shelves, pushing women towards the hard-to-reverse surgery. While no recent national statistics on sterilizations are available, doctors and health workers say demand for the procedure is growing. (Photo by Carlos Garcia Rawlins/Reuters)

Children fill plastic containers with water from a well on a street, close to a neighbourhood called “The Tank” in the slum of Petare in Caracas, Venezuela, March 17, 2016. Although their nation has one of the world's biggest hydroelectric dams and vast rivers like the fabled Orinoco, Venezuelans are still suffering water and power cuts most days. The problems with stuttering services have escalated in the last few weeks: yet another headache for the OPEC nation's 30 million people already reeling from recession, the world's highest inflation rate, and scarcities of basic goods. President Nicolas Maduro blames a drought, while the opposition blames government incompetence. (Photo by Carlos Garcia Rawlins/Reuters)

A view of electricity wires, in Caracas, Venezuela, 03 April 2019. West Venezuela started receiving electricity intermittently in the states of Zulia, Falcon, Merida and Trujillo after 100 hours without power. (Photo by Miguel Gutierrez/EPA/EFE/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

A giant ham bread, a typical Venezuelan Christmas dish, is seen on a table during an attempt to break the Guinness World Record for the biggest ham bread, in Caracas November 15, 2014. The giant hallaca more than 120 metres long. (Photo by Carlos Garcia Rawlins/Reuters)

A 2.4 kg chicken is pictured next to 14,600,000 bolivars, its price and the equivalent of 2.22 USD, at a mini-market in Caracas, Venezuela on August 16, 2018. It was the going price at an informal market in the low-income neighborhood of Catia. (Photo by Carlos Garcia Rawlins/Reuters)

A soup for the students is pictured during an activity for the end of the school year at the Padre Jose Maria Velaz school in Caracas, Venezuela July 12, 2016. Due to the faltering socialist economy and the plunge in global oil prices, Venezuela has been in recession since early 2014. Due to the faltering socialist economy and the plunge in global oil prices, Venezuela has been in recession since early 2014. It suffers from the world's highest inflation and is experiencing shortages of basic goods, from milk to medicines. (Photo by Carlos Jasso/Reuters)

The combination of Venezuela's sky-rocketing prices and chronic product shortages have left many struggling to put regular food on their tables and maintain a balanced diet. According to one recent study, 87 percent of Venezuelans say their income is now insufficient to purchase their food needs. Here: All the food available in the house of Antonia Torres and her family, is pictured at their home in Caracas, Venezuela April 22, 2016. (Photo by Carlos Garcia Rawlins/Reuters)