Baby formula for HIV+ teen mothers in Lima, Peru

As of September 1, 2020 Peru has registered over 657,108 positive COVID-19 cases and 29,608 deaths. While Peru has been hailed as the most responsive country in Latin America to the crisis due to its testing and lockdown, sadly Peru’s per capita casualties and fatalities are among the highest in the world. In spite of Peru’s increase in per capita GDP over the past 30 years, the fragility of that growth is being displayed among the 60% of the population that still works in the informal economy. For the majority of Peruvians social distancing is not an option. They must go out of their modest lodgings to earn enough money to pay for food and to keep a roof over their head. As a result, the crowded streets and markets are a breeding ground for the virus to spread. The young single impoverished mothers are perhaps the most vulnerable. Most have lost their meager daily wages due to the lockdown. As a result, they and their children have no shelter and our facing hunger.  Peruvians are sleeping in the streets waiting for a solution. Many of the clusters are near airports and squares in makeshift shelters and they lack the basic hygiene to prevent the virus and are unable to comply with social distancing measures.

Sadly, plagued by extreme poverty and devastating natural disasters, Peru lacks the resources to help them. All of these issues raise the need to help build the healthcare infrastructure. To that end, VIDA has made 21 shipments carrying hundreds of 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.