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Providing Quality Reproductive
Health in Peru
Close
to half of Peru’s 27 million people are squeezed
along its serpentine coastline. The overwhelming majority
of the country’s industrial infrastructure is concentrated
in the capital city and along the coast. As a result,
many small Andean communities have been bypassed by
development. Peru’s population is growing by 2%
a year and the total fertility rate is close to three
children per woman. However, these are national averages.
In the mountainous communities where Quecha is spoken,
women often have 6-8 children each, about twice as many
as they desire. This is a clear indication that quality
reproductive health information and services are not
available in many remote rural regions. The
project’s objectives are fivefold:
- To
strengthen coordination between service providers
and clients;
- To
empower groups of women and adolescents by increasing
their knowledge about reproductive health and rights;
- To
strengthen partnership networks, particularly among
UN agencies and NGOs;
- To
increase the capacity of public and private institutions
to deliver quality sexual and reproductive health;
- To
standardize the existing knowledge base regarding
reproductive and sexual health and augment it with
lessons learned in order to improve the design of
strategic activities.
Activities at the National Level:
- Improve
coordination of activities between UN agencies, the
government and selected NGOs.
- Analyze
35 projects implemented by national NGOs in order
to better design strategic interventions and activities.
- Adolescents
identified as the priority group to be targeted by
project activities.
Activities at the Local Level:
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| What's
NEW In
three different regions in Peru the government, coalition
members and community action groups agreed on the pressing
need to improve the attitudes of health care providers
towards adolescents who seek services. As poverty deepens
in both urban and rural communities, adolescents are
being abandoned by their families. This results in increasing
numbers of school dropouts, alcohol and drug abuse,
unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections.
Adolescents stated that when they do dare to visit reproductive
health facilities they are treated poorly, with no respect
or confidentiality. The
project in Peru will work on mobilizing organized groups
of adolescents and young people, particularly girls,
to influence the way services are delivered. In order
to do this, information campaigns will be launched and
direct partnership with health care providers will be
facilitated. In
the jungle region of Pucallpa, members of local health
councils will be trained to include on their agendas
issues related to the provision of quality reproductive
health care. This is considered a viable mechanism to
address the current lack of quality services, underscored
by contraceptive lockouts (inadequate supplies) and
poor service delivery. In addition, a pilot project
will be launched in San Juan de Lurigancho, the country’s
most densely populated district located outside the
capital, Lima.
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