Strengthening maternal and infant health care in deprived areas (Development Phase)

Although development in Peru is rapid and considerable improvements have been made maternal and infant mortality rates remain relatively high especially in the more deprived areas. Infants born in rural forest areas and rural mountainous areas have the highest mortality risk with 38 and 33 deaths per 1,000 live births respectively. Also, the maternal mortality rate is with 103 dying for every 100,000 live births still high compared to other Latin American countries. An important contributor to the high mortality is the perinatal mortality of infants and mothers due to lack of quality public healthcare services and the low cultural adaptation to birth with professional assistance.The project is defined as the improvement of maternal and infant health care facilities and services of two hospitals with an important national and regional reference role. Focus is on improvement of physical infrastructure the delivery and instalment of medical equipment and operation and maintenance of the newly installed equipment. Another component of the project is the improvement and transfer of knowledge and skills in the selected hospitals through institutional strengthening technical assistance (organisational development) and the setting up of a tele-medicine system between the hospitals.