Peru sets an example for safe hospitals

Briefly Noted: Disasters - Preparedness and Risk Reduction in the Americas

Over the last five years, Peru has stood out among the countries of South America for the marked progress it has made in adopting a strategy on safe hospitals.

The country has a National Safe Hospitals Committee, a national Policy on safe hospitals, and the budget to implement measures to ensure that hospitals remain safe after disasters. Thanks to well-trained staff, Peru has already evaluated the vulnerability of several health facilities, with financial support from the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation, the Canadian International Development Agency, and the European Commission.

In Peru, the issue of safe hospitals began to gain momentum in 2005, with the approval of the Andean Strategic Plan for Preparedness and Response. The experiences of the earthquake in Pisco, Peru (2007), which destroyed several health facilities, and the earthquakes in Haiti and Chile (2010), provided the catalyst for the government to develop and enact the National Safe Hospital Policy, drafted a year earlier by the National Committee on Safe Hospitals.

The Ministry of Health has received a budget of US$ 2 million to carry out the activities planned for 2011. Read Peru's National Safe Hospital Policy. For more information please contact Celso Bambaren at bambarec@per.ops-oms.org.