Peru and COVID-19: Quick Response Hampered by Structural Failures

Eduardo Dargent and Camila Gianella (2020)
Bill of Health blog, Harvard Law School

On March 15, with 28 confirmed cases and no deaths, the government issued the Supreme Decree N° 044-2020-PCM declaring a state of emergency for 15 days. Measures in the decree included closing the borders, ordering a general lockdown, forbidding domestic travel, and closing schools, universities, churches, and all non-essential businesses, among others.

Essential services like water, electricity, urban transport, garbage, continued, but health services have been restricted to emergency and COVID-19 care; outpatient services have been suspended, as well as activities as vaccination campaigns, and tuberculosis case identification.  For people with chronic diseases or health conditions that require regular care, the Ministry of Health (MoH) implemented some measures to guarantee access to treatment (such as weekly distribution of drugs). The impact of these measures on morbidity, mortality, and quality of care remains unknown.

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Publication is an output of LawTransform project Effects of rights & law.

Camila Gianella is the Executive Director of CISEPA Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, a researcher at the Chr. Michelsen Institute and a Global Fellow at the Centre on Law and Social Transformation. 

Eduardo Dargent is a full professor at Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú and researcher at CISEPA Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú.

Photo by Yuvy Dhaliah on Unsplash.