La descentralización en Colombia y la transferencia de responsabilidades a los departamentos

Abstract

The decentralisation process in Colombia sought to consolidate the presence of the state throughout the country. To this end, a series of policies were implemented to restructure the state towards decentralisation and thus provide greater autonomy and competencies to the departments and municipalities, including the provision of health services to the population. However, the new political-administrative structure deepened the inequality between territorial entities, conditioning the quality and coverage of health services. This document presents some data that show the situation of the health sector in La Guajira, one of the poorest departments in the country, characterised by the absence of the Colombian state and the incidence of illegality in the social, economic and political dynamics.