Peru

Peru is a republic on the western coast of South America, bordered by Ecuador and Colombia to the north, Brazil to the East, Chile to the south, and the Pacific to the west. Once the center of Inca civilization, the region was conquered by the Spanish in 1532 and became the administrative center of their colonial holdings. Peru won independence in 1821. It is the world's 20th largest country, with an area about twice the size of Texas. Peru is developing country which has been slowly modernizing over the past decade, but economic and political change is slow for the half of the population currently living in poverty.

Peru is home to an estimates 28,675,000 people, growing at a rate of 1.29 percent annually. Birth rates and death rates have both dropped in recent years, now standing at 20.09 births per 1,000 population [Page 1357]and 6.21 deaths per 1,000 population. The total fertility rate has also dropped, with 2.46 children born per woman. The median age is 25.5 years. Life expectancy is 68.33 years for males and 72.04 years for females. Peru has a diverse economy, but gross national income is relatively low at $2,610 per capita, and 13 percent of the population lives on $1 a day.

Communicable diseases have declined sharply from the 1980s. While 2.5 million live in malaria zones, 3.4 million live in dengue fever zones, and 600,000 are at risk for Chagas’ disease, annual rates of infection have been reduced. Cholera rates have also declined. Yellow fever and hepatitis B are still common in some areas. There are less than two dozen cases of plague a year, a decrease attributed to the replacement of old silos with newer, metal structure that keep rodents at bay.

HIV/AIDS is has a prevalence rate of 0.6 percent, with an estimated 93,000 cases and about 5,600 AIDS-related deaths. The virus is concentrated primarily among the poor in the coastal regions of the country. Peru has established a Country Coordinating Mechanism comprised of a loose affiliation of government agencies, international and national non-governmen-tal organizations to develop a nationwide AIDS policy and educational programs, although most agree that the country needs a national coordinating body.

Peru's geography and climate make it suseptible to natural disasters, and the government counted 1,478 such events in the period between 1993–97 alone. These disasters killed 1,600 and impacted close to 1 million others. Accidents and violence have decreased since the 1990s, although the number of traffic accidents have climbed as the country has become more urbanized.

Peru has both a public and a private health care system. In 1997, there were 7,304 hospitals and health care centers operating within the county, with 81 percent administered by the national Ministry of Health. The number of beds varies, with 1 bed per 666 people in the city of Lima, and 1 bed per 1,250 for the rest of the country. The government spends around $49 per capita on health care. Medical personnel in 1999 included 30,000 physicians, 2,800 dentists, and 17,000 nurses.