Foreign nations, international organizations, and their impact on health conditions in Nicaragua since 1979.

In July 1979, a coalition of social forces in Nicaragua, under the leadership of the Sandinistas, toppled the discredited 43-year Somoza dictatorship. In addition to revolutionary Nicaragua's own substantial efforts, since 1979 international forces and developments have had profound impacts on the nation's ambitious social programs. This article investigates the impact of foreign nations and international organizations on Nicaragua's health conditions since 1979. Given or pledged assistance, for health and other social needs, has been forthcoming, for example, from Latin America, Western Europe, socialist countries, the United Nations, the Organization of American States, and the European Economic Community. International forces, however, have also had a negative impact on Nicaragua's health conditions. Since 1981, counter-revolutionary guerilla forces, known as contras, have fought the Nicaraguan government troops in a disastrous conflict, involving substantial international assistance for each side. The United States and several other nations have provided some form of aid to the contras. The war in Nicaragua has resulted in enormous human and material losses, and, of course, has adversely affected health conditions.