Project Nicaragua at The Ohio State University

The chapter at Ohio State was started in late 2008 by Senior Director Stanley Park. The chapter at Ohio State was started in late 2008 by Senior Director Stanley Park in conjunction with several undergraduate students. With almost 6 million residents, Nicaragua is the second poorest country in the Western hemisphere. 48 % of citizens fall under the poverty line, and 75 % reportedly have two or more basic needs unfulfilled. This socioeconomic disparity is integrally tied with the dire healthcare situation in the country. While the few wealthy elite are able to afford private healthcare and a privileged minority of government and industry workers are given coverage by the Nicaraguan Social Security Institute, the great majority of citizens must rely on a public system of severely inadequate and deficient infrastructure. Lack of funding in this system has led not only to few supplies and equipment, but also to low motivation of physicians due to almost unlivable salaries. Though the government is working to improve the system, many problems including inequity of access, high out-of-pocket costs, and severe lack of education still persist. Our chapter works in areas of education, empowerment, and healthcare to in an effort to ultimately improve quality of medical care and, further, standard of life for the Nicaraguan people. We are currently engaged in multiple projects in collaboration with groups based in Nicaragua. Recent partners include el Centro Nacional de Oftalmologia (CENAO), the only public ophthalmology clinic and teaching hospital in the country. We are working to raise funds and supplies for CENAO and finalizing plans to fully fund a medical resident from the hospital as he or she trains in a Visiting Scholars program at The Ohio State University College of Medicine. We are also working to provide educational supplies to a recently-established vocational and agricultural school within the impoverished Rancho Grande region, and will send members in late summer to volunteer at the school and at feeding stations within the region. Through such initiatives, we hope to sustainably address key elements of the country's socioeconomic and healthcare disparity and thus work towards fulfilling our goals.