There are great differences in the levels of political, social and economic development throughout the Latin America region. The region continues to be strongly influenced by three key issues:
The economic cycle is focused on short-term with average to little regional interaction;
Societies are split along ethnic and social divisions with disconnected elites;
Because of the strong social divisions, the public and private healthcare services are showing opposite quality of services.
Each country is simultaneously making different, but very serious attempts to overcome these problems. The reforms of the 1980s and 1990s that concentrated on decentralisation, deregulation, liberalisation and privatisation have, in many cases, led to discernible improvements in macroeconomic parameters. This has opened up new areas for action in the private sector and in civil society, in particular at a decentralised level. Moreover, increased efforts are being made to strengthen and complement the national economies through regional cooperation and enhanced integration.
