Palms for Life Fund - Priority Countries

NICARAGUA

Population: 5.3 million
Gross National Income per capita: US$790
Under 5 mortality rate (per thousand): 38
Infant mortality rate (per thousand): 31
Maternal mortality rate (per 100,000): 230 (400 mothers in 2004)
Adult literacy rate: 77
Male 77
Female 77
Net primary school enrollment/attendance rate: 80

Nicaragua

Nicaragua is a low-income, food-deficit country; its per capita income is the second lowest in Latin America. The country is marked by an enormous inequality which has the highest concentration in rural areas. At present 2.5 million people are poor and the extreme poverty is 23.2 percent. In the city of Managua, two of every ten people are poor. In the rural area, most of the population lives below the poverty line.

Chronic malnutrition affects one out of four children under 5; infant mortality rates are among the highest in the region. High infant and maternal mortality rates are primarily result of insufficient access to food, micronutrient deficiencies, poor hygiene practices and consumption habits and limited access to basic services, especially water and sanitation.

Approximately 200,000 children are still outside of the educative system. The number of children not attending school is 6 times higher among homes living in poverty. Pre-primary education attends 24.7 percent of children under 7. Pre-primary education is not institutionalized, and very few pre-school centers exist; consequently many children in the pre-primary age group are left without any type of education, particularly in rural areas. Poor households are also affected by illiteracy and the average number of years of schooling is even lower than the national average of five years. About 20 percent of children do not attend primary school and preschool education reaches only about 30 percent of kids. About 18 percent of persons 10 and over are illiterate.

About 600,000 children and adolescents are at risk because of the violation of their rights as a result of their poor living conditions. Child labor is a serious problem; a survey in 2000 showed that there were 253,057 children and adolescents actively working.

Nicaragua is also prone to climatic and natural disasters such as earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. Recurrent droughts, floods and hurricanes in the last years have particularly affected the poor population living mostly in degraded rural areas. In 1998, hurricane Mitch, affected 800,000 people and caused damage worth more than US$1 billion.

Despite the rate of prevalence of AIDS of 13.8 percent there is ZERO school with teacher counselors, teachers and students trained in basic education about HIV/AIDS.

The country needs redistributive policies to create more opportunities and develop its human capital in order to move ahead and get out of poverty.

Palms for Life Fund will focus its investment in feeding children in school, educating mothers about better nutrition and hygiene practices to help reduce infant and maternal mortality, preventing HIV/AIDS and increasing adult literacy, particularly in rural areas.

Nicaragua News Sources

La Prensa

El Nuevo Diario

NicaNet

Sources:
Nicaraguan Living Standard Measurement Survey of 2001
National Development Plan of Nicaragua-November 2005
The State of the World’s Children 2006, UNICEF
World Food Programme – Country Program 2002-2006

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