COVID-19 Pandemic in Peru - send medical supplies

It has long been suspected that Peru has been undercounting the number of positive cases and COVID deaths.  This is attributable in great part to the very poor healthcare infrastructure serving the very poor.  The government recently announced they were increasing the death toll from COVID by over 300%.  Peru has now registered over 2,000,000 positive COVID-19 cases and a staggering 194,000 deaths. Peru’s per capita fatalities are now the highest in the world by a wide margin.  For the majority of Peruvians social distancing is not an option and the crowded living conditions, work places, streets and markets are a breeding ground for the virus to spread. Compounding the problem has been the scarcity of vaccines with less than 10% of the adult population receiving at least one shot.  Taken all together these realities have resulted in a humanitarian nightmare for Peru and other similar countries. 

Faced with this crisis, Peru has been unable to effectively prevent and care for the nation’s most vulnerable due to its low number of ICU beds per capita, history of low investment in healthcare, and a severe shortage of medical professionals.  ICU capacity is limited due to the number of beds but even more so by the small number of doctors and nurses who have this level of expertise. All of these issues raise the need to help build the healthcare infrastructure. To that end, VIDA made 24 shipments in 2020 and have already sent 16 shipments through June 2021. Shipments contains ICU hospital beds, stretchers, exam tables along with hundreds of walkers and thousands of crutches as well as thousands of boxes of medical supplies including PPE and respiratory equipment and supplies to combat the virus.   

A major cost in this project is the ocean freight from Oakland to Callao. GlobalGiving donors play an important role in making these shipments possible. We hope you can join us in our mission to bring aid to Peru’s most vulnerable communities. 

As of March 14, 2021, Peru has reported 1,407,963 cases of and 48,841 deaths from COVID-19. The introduction of a new South American variant has caused cases to spike again after two months of dramatic declines.   Although Peru has built out its ICU capacity, the healthcare system is bracing for another crisis as the spike in cases ultimately leads to a spike in hospitalizations and sadly deaths.

During the pandemic, VIDA has made over 28 containers and air lifts to Peru. In addition to the basic medical supplies and millions of dollars in medicine, VIDA has also shipped 150 ICU beds. This is addition to the over 500 beds we have shipped over the past three years. To illustrate just how important VIDA's work in Peru is to the health care system, Peru only has roughly 1,700 ICU beds for 35 million people. VIDA accounts for roughly 25% of the ICU beds in Peru, a remarkable data point for one nonprofit.

Needless to say, we need to do more. We are prepping two more containers for shipment in March that will carry various medical supplies and equipment including 40 more beds. Your support makes these shipments possible. The only potential challenge to making these shipments in March is the backlog in shipping space. VIDA is hopeful the containers will land a spot on one of the ocean freighters.

The people of Peru greatly appreciate you continued generosity in helping Peru through this crisis.