The United States Government committed $2.5 million to mitigate the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in Peru. The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) announced it is providing this assistance in alliance with Socios En Salud (SES), the Peruvian affiliate of the U.S. non-profit organization Partners In Health (PIH) that has worked in Peru since 1996
The United States Government, via USAID, is providing life-saving support in coordination with Peru’s Ministry of Health and other stakeholders to identify priority areas for investment. Through this assistance, USAID will support aggressive contact tracing, community mobilization, and systematic screening to prevent community spread of COVID- 19.
The $2.5 million investment from USAID will mobilize additional assistance from public and private partners, including more than $1 million from Boston-based non-profit organization Partners In Health. The Alliance will support health workers to safely care for the most vulnerable patients, including providing 450,000 teleconsultations through a medical call center, and activate a community health worker network to safely conduct 18,000 outreach visits to identify families needing clinical and social support in Peru’s hardest-hit regions of Lima, Lambayeque, and Loreto.
With many years of experience in mobilizing community health workers for public health education and contact tracing, Socios En Salud will use USAID funds to train its health workers to safely provide community-based education and care at the community level. Community health workers will identify patients and families in need of clinical and social support and provide appropriate follow up to patients and their families, including access to food, water, and mental health care for cases requiring isolation. These actions will also strengthen the surveillance of COVID-19 to ensure a systematic approach and response.
Assistance will also support health facilities in target areas with heavy COVID-19 patient loads to aid in Peru’s strategic response against the pandemic. This will include investment in staff and critical equipment to help facilities to treat and monitor patients.
Socios en Salud/USAID Peru