Health ­financing challenges and institutional options to move towards universal coverage in Nicaragua

Overview

Nicaragua is  a low-income  country  with  a gross domestic product of US$1,023  per capita in 2007 (CBN 2007), making it the second poorest in Latin  America. The total population is 5.6  million, with 45.8% living  under the poverty line in 2001 (INEC/INIDE  2001). Over the last two decades Nicaragua's  health system has, like  many  other countries in the region, (Homedes/Ugalde 2005, Cavagnero 2008),  shifted  from  the socialist  model  during  the 1980s (Garfield/Taboada 1984) to  a more  market-focused one during the  1990s (Arredondo/Parada 2001; Arredondo  et al.  2005). 

This report is part of a series, The World Health Report 2010 Background Papers, which were written to inform the process of developing the key messages of the World Health Report 2010: Health systems financing: The path to universal coverage.