[Lack of food and nutritional security in Central America: contributing factors and social exclusion]

In August 2001, the XVII Meeting of the Health Sector in Central America and the Dominican Republic (RESSCAD) was held in Managua, Nicaragua. At the meeting, a resolution was adopted in support of strengthening and furthering the Central American initiative for the Promotion of Food and Nutritional Security. This paper examines the conceptual framework behind the initiative, which was approved by the XIV Central American Presidents Summit Meeting (Guatemala City, Guatemala) and launched in 1994 at the regional, national, and municipal levels (Guacimo, Costa Rica, 1994). It focuses on the accomplishments attributable to this initiative, the challenges it has faced over 2001 and those it will be facing over the next biennium, and the measures taken or recommended so far in order to ensure its long-term success.