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Nicaragua  Why children in Nicaragua need your helpNicaragua is struggling to overcome the effects of dictatorship, civil war and the massive destruction of Hurricane Mitch, all of which have contributed to the country's under-performing economy.
Standards of education in Nicaragua are also very low, with only around half of all children completing their primary education. Country factsThe Republic of Nicaragua is the largest nation in Central America and is bordered by Honduras in the north and Costa Rica in the south. Nicaragua achieved independence from Spain in 1821 and became a republic in 1838. Britain occupied the Caribbean Coast in the first half of the 19th century, but gradually ceded control of the region. Violent opposition to government corruption had spread across the country by 1978, which resulted in a civil war that brought the Sandinistas to power in 1979. The Sandinistas remained in government throughout the 1980s, and later fought a US-sponsored counter-revolution, which saw the US finance thousands of rebels, or Contras, to carry out attacks on Nicaragua from bases in Honduras. Elections in 1990, 1996 and 2001 saw the Sandinistas defeated, but voting in 2006 brought the return of former Sandinista President Daniel Ortega.
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Nicaragua is one of the poorest countries in the western
hemisphere, with nearly 20 per cent of children suffering from
moderate or severe stunting due to malnutrition. The country has
an unacceptably high maternal mortality rate and ongoing problems
with unsafe water and sanitation.
