Venezuelan Refugee access to Reproductive and Sexual Health Services in Peru: Understanding and Addressing the Need (360G-Wellcome-218312_Z_19_Z)

Venezuelan-refugees are fleeing from the country’s political and economic crisis in what has been described as an exodus projected to eclipse that of Syria’s. To date, over half a million have arrived in Peru (second-largest intake). The Venezuelan medical-system is on the verge of collapse with an 85% pharmaceutical shortage, including vital HIV-medication and contraceptives. Those migrants arriving to recipient countries are in desperate need of the reproductive health services denied to them in Venezuela, to stem the spread of STIs and unplanned pregnancies. Peru has offered a temporary-resident-permit-scheme (PTP) that ended in December 2018, inciting an influx of migrants towards the end of the year. The Peruvian medical-system (MINSA) offers free health care to those with citizenship; a bureaucratic hurdle that many Venezuelans are unable to jump for lack of appropriate documentation. Working with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA-Peru), this project’s key goals are to: 1)Assess the situation of Venezuelan migrants’ access to reproductive health services in Lima, 2)Ascertain services that are lacking and/or in urgent need, 3)Make policy-recommendations and suggest necessary MINSA-worker training. Interviews, focus groups, and a survey will be undertaken. We will provide policy recommendations to the Peruvian government health-ministry (MINSA) based on the findings.