Living in Peru : your everyday companion

LivinginPeru.com
Isabel Guerra

Peru's Health Ministry, Óscar Ugarte, told the press that his portfolio has allocated a S/. 300 million soles (approx. US $ 300 million dollars) to purchase several different types of vaccines for next year's immunization campaign.

The purchases will include the vaccine against AH1N1 influenza, that will be used among people in the high risk groups, that is, 7 million of Peruvians.

“This is not a vaccine for everyone, but for the children under 5, the elderly citizens, and the ones who suffer from any chronic health condition that might become a health risk,” said Ugarte.

Ugarte also remarked that the Ministry is taking all the necessary precautionary measures to face a probable new AH1N1 outbreak.

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LivinginPeru.com
Isabel Guerra

Puno's Regional Directorate of Health (Diresa -Puno) has reported 17 deaths due to tuberculosis (TBC) in this region during the first semester of 2009, as well as 202 confirmed cases, 186 of wich are patients who have just contracted the disease for the first time.

Four of the patients died specifically on TB, while the other 13 died due to other severe conditions acquired during the course of the illness.

Diresa-Puno, which currently provides healthcare for these patients, made a public appeal encouraging people currently experiencing suspicious symptoms (chronic cough for more than 15 days, weight loss, nocturnal sweating and extreme fatigue) to go to the nearest health facility to receive medical treatment.

Have other topics you'd like to see in our news section? If you or someone you know would like to contribute a news article to Living in Peru, whether it's translated or based on a personal investigation, send it to editor@livinginperu.com.

LivinginPeru.com
Isabel Guerra

Peru's Ministry of Labor has started a public campaign to guarantee labor rights of workers with HIV, to avoid any possible case of discrimination in the workplace as well as to end the labor exclusion that many HIV carriers are enduring.

The campaign, called “How to deal with HIV – AIDS  in the workplace?” and will focus on give informative conferences to the companies, teaching them how to avoid labor discrimination due to HIV - AIDS, a fact that, if proved to be true, can lead to a S/. 71,000 fine.

According to Peru's Labor Deputy Minister, Enrique Paiva Venero, “this is a preventive campaign intended to sensitize workers and executives to the problems of discrimination; to make them understand that the HIV carrier is part of the same family.”

Peru's Health Ministry informs that 23,143 cases of AIDS and 34,677 HIV carriers have been detected at present in 2009.

Have other topics you'd like to see in our news section? If you or someone you know would like to contribute a news article to Living in Peru, whether it's translated or based on a personal investigation, send it to editor@livinginperu.com.

LivinginPeru.com
Isabel Guerra

Peru's Health Minister, Oscar Ugarte, was awarded a World Prize during the “World Breastfeeding Week 2008 Olympics” for his work on promoting breastfeeding in Peru, in a competition with other 31 countries.

“We need all the mothers to breastfeed their babies, because children under 2 years old fed with their mother's milk have their probabilities of dying on Acute Respiratory Infections reduced by six times,” he said.

Peru was awarded 36 medals --25 of them gold medals-- due to the strategies developed by the Health's Ministry along with other public and private institutions to promote breastfeeding.

Ugarte informed that the practice of breastfeeding reaches currently 73% of the Peruvian babies, which is a significative increase compared to the 25% registered a few years ago, but the goal is that all the babies and children under the age of 2 can be breastfed, as the best strategy to protect them from malnutrition and illnesses.

The Peruvian regions with the best records in this Breastfeeding Week were Ica, Tacna, Cajamarca, Apurimac and Madre de Dios.

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LivinginPeru.com
Isabel Guerra

Peru's Health Ministry (Minsa) has just confirmed another 18 deaths related to the AH1N1 influenza virus, which rises the total death toll to a grand total of 80.

According to a Minsa's press release, 6 of the casualties took place in Lima, 1 in La Libertad, 2 in Tacna, 3 in Moquegua, 1 in Piura, 2 in Arequipa, 1 in Ayacucho and 2 in Lambayeque.

Peru's Health Authorities reported that 487 more new cases were confirmed between August 17th and 23rd, which increases the total of cases to 6,608, from which 6,121 have been discharged.

According to the World Organization of Health (WHO), the confirmed cases around the world are 236,000 at present, with 2,440 casualties.

Have other topics you'd like to see in our news section? If you or someone you know would like to contribute a news article to Living in Peru, whether it's translated or based on a personal investigation, send it to editor@livinginperu.com.

LivinginPeru.com
Isabel Guerra

Peru's Health Minister, Oscar Ugarte, announced that the Peruvian State will pay a S/. 100,000 compensation (approximately US $35,000 dollars) to a group of citizens who were victims of medical malpractice in health facilities run by the State.

Ugarte also said he supports the idea of paying compensations to the relatives of the patients who had suffered medical malpractice while in public hospitals.

He pointed out that these cases come from long ago, when he was not yet appointed Minister, but he fully understands the claims of the victims and their families.

Have other topics you'd like to see in our news section? If you or someone you know would like to contribute a news article to Living in Peru, whether it's translated or based on a personal investigation, send it to editor@livinginperu.com.

LivinginPeru.com
Isabel Guerra

At present, 514 Peruvians have died on pneumonia during 2009, and the children under the age of 5 are the majority of the casualties.

This was stressed by the Coordinator of Health Forum, Walter Borja, who pointed out that these deaths have not only taken place due to a extreme cold spell, like is the case in the Southern Andean Highlands, but also in warmer regions like Huanuco or Loreto.

In a telephonic interview with CPN Radio, he said that the change of some aspect of the lifestyle, as well as the conditions of living and nutritional factors, are contributing to this increase of cases.

Borja recommended to all the parents of small children and infants to take them to the nearest health facility as soon as they notice that their breathing gets too fast.

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LivinginPeru.com
Isabel Guerra

Peru's Health Minister, Oscar Ugarte, said that the vaccine against AH1N1influenza “might be ready by November,” so the Ministry expects to start a massive immunization campaign during the first months of 2010.

“The first ones to receive the vaccines will be the children under 5 years old, senior citizens, pregnant women and people from the high-risk groups, such as the ones with chronic illnesses, as well as health professionals,” he said.

These groups of patients conform the 30% of the population, which would make approximately 8 millions of doses. The Minister also informed that Latin American Health Ministries are negotiating a regional purchase through the World Organization of Health (WHO), to ensure an equitable distribution of the vaccines among the countries.

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LivinginPeru.com
Isabel Guerra

The NGO Survival international is issuing an international warning on the possible danger of “a devastating contagion” amongst Peru's indigenous communities, especially those located in the selvatic amazonian regions, since they have no immunity to outside diseases.

As we reported here in Living in Peru a few days ago, the director of Epidemiology at the Directorate of Health of Cusco, Luis Gonzalez, reported the first AH1N1 confirmed cases in a Machiguenga community in La Convención province (Cusco region).

At present, seven members of the Matsigenka (also known locally as Machiguenga) tribe living along the Urubamba River in the Peruvian Amazon basin have tested positive for the virus, according to the regional health department in Cusco.

Tribal peoples across the world are particularly vulnerable to swine flu; they mostly live in poverty and are more prone to chronic illnesses such as diabetes and heart disease, which makes them even more vulnerable.

Anthropologist Dr. Glenn Shepard, an expert on the Matsigenka Indians, says ‘The arrival of swine flu amongst the Matsigenka is especially worrying as they are known to have intermittent contact with quite isolated Indian groups living nearby.’

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LivinginPeru.com
Isabel Guerra

Eight millions of school aged children went back to school today in Peru after a long mid-year vacation that had been extended for an additional week due to the AH1N1 outbreak among students.

Regarding to this, Luis Suárez Ogmio, General Director or Epidemiology, asked the parents and teachers as well to extreme the surveillance on the students to detect possible new cases of the disease, since more cases have been registered in different Peru's regions.

In addition, Suarez did not rule out another class suspension if the cases among students begin to increase again.

In an interview for a local TV station, Suarez Ognio appealed to parents, teachers and schools authorities, adding that “if we have a careful surveillance and take appropriate care of possible cases we can avoid an increasing of them, and we won't have to close schools again.”

Have other topics you'd like to see in our news section? If you or someone you know would like to contribute a news article to Living in Peru, whether it's translated or based on a personal investigation, send it to editor@livinginperu.com