Social violence in the post-conflict and its impact on health services

Abstract

In order to understand the social violence currently raging in El Salvador - and its impact on health services, we must begin our analysis during the period of civil war and continue until the arrival of progressive governments in the last decade. Doing so we can identify the key moments when El Salvador became the world´s most violent country and its capital (San Salvador) the capital with the highest number of murders. The transformation of Salvadoran society and its associated social violence has configured an informal, unpublished map of El Salvador with new boundaries and borders. Gangs have control of some of these areas, a situation related to the weakness of current state institutions. The population (called ´civils’ by the gangs) has restricted access to health, education, work, housing and security.

Keywords

• social violence
• urban health
• gangs