The New Left and Health Care Reform in El Salvador

Mary A. Clark, an associate professor of political science at Tulane University, investigates The New Left and Health Care Reform in El Salvador in the newest edition of Latin American Politics & Society.

After a decade of civil war and four consecutive conservative administrations, El Salvador's leftist FMLN won its first presidential election in 2009. How has public policy changed under this New Left government, and why?

This article addresses the question in the area of public health care. An alliance of health sector leaders with both technocratic and diplomatic abilities capitalized on the policy window opened by the FMLN's electoral victory and worked within the parameters set by President Mauricio Funes, the FMLN, and civil society to universalize health care.

The new minister of health, a professional highly esteemed inside and outside the country, was able to engage both a large social movement protesting neoliberal policy and an energetic health diplomat sent by the Pan American Health Organization. In designing its reform, this alliance benefited from international as well as “bottom-up” policy diffusion.

As I've said before, there's been some grumbling around the new health minister Violeta Menjivar. However, this article takes a look at the progress that El Salvador experienced under former minister María Isabel Rodríguez, who recently was recognized a Public Health Hero of the Americas by the Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO).

The article is well worth the read.