ABSTRACT
From the outset, the Sandinista revolution was a popular revolution: popular in the sense that it depended upon the participation of a broad political base to achieve the overthrow of the Somoza regime and that the benefits of the revolution were to be widely distributed. Sandinista policy was developed with appreciation of the uniqueness of the Nicaraguan reality. The health delivery system under Somoza was disorganized, inefficient, and greatly biased toward providing curative care for a small minority of urban elites. The use of social security funds to finance a health system for the whole population was a significant deviation from the traditional Latin American practice and demonstrated once again the Sandinista commitment to the society as a whole. As in many other Latin American countries, most of the functions of social welfare were expected to be carried out by religious and private charitable agencies. The war contributed to the serious housing situation that existed under Somoza.
