Baby formula for HIV+ teen mothers in Lima, Peru

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 20% of the adult population receiving at least one shot. Taken all together these realities have resulted in a humanitarian nightmare for Peru.  With the Mu variant beginning to take hold in Peru after the devastating Delta variant, Peru continues to be in crisis.

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 22 shipments through September 1, 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.   VIDA is now working on an emergency food program in the hard hit communities outside of Cusco. In addition VIDA is working on securing al large donation of vitamins for the benefit of expectant mothers as well as children.

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.