About Our Peru Country Office

Peru’s recent economic growth hides unjust social inequalities. Development has by‐passed the remote rural regions, and chronic malnutrition among children is common. These factors are driven by food insecurities, poverty, and inaccessibility to health services. CMMB Peru’s project activities are committed to further reducing malnutrition, anemia, and other determinants of maternal and child morbidity.

CMMB Peru health projects focus on improving the health and nutrition of women, children, and their communities in underserved and marginalized areas including:

• Distrito de Chilca, Provincia de Huancayo, Region Junín
• Distrito La Esperanza, Provincia de Trujillo, Region La Libertad

CMMB’s CHAMPS model, our signature initiative, provides a framework for this work. Community-driven, it reflects the needs implicit in its context—so in Peru, we focus on improving conditions relating to water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH); improving nutrition; and empowering women and vulnerable families. By building the knowledge base and skills of community health workers, we work toward ensuring access to healthcare for families who would not otherwise have it.

CMMB Peru meets these objectives through the implementation of different projects and activities, including:

• The First 1,000 Days Project
• Support from Bon Secours Sisters and domestic and international volunteers
• Rehabilitation for children with disabilities

The First 1,000 Days Project trains health professionals and community health workers, advises parents on child and family health and nutrition, promotes safe water and sanitation practices, and provides nutritional supplementation to underweight and malnourished children. The project also supports and addresses barriers to economic self‐sufficiency through animal husbandry projects using locally appropriate livestock, including guinea pigs, ducks, and quail eggs.

CHAMPS Peru complements existing community-based programs designed to improve maternal and child health. The initiative expands on and diversifies existing interventions to focus on integrated management of neonatal and child illnesses and prevention and screening for cervical cancer and diabetes, with greater coordination among local social actors.

Rehabilitation with Hope assists children with physical and cognitive disabilities and their vulnerable families by providing much-needed access to quality therapy based on respected World Health Organization protocols. In this post, volunteer Jessica Saenz shares her first-hand experience with the program.

Snapshots from Peru

Jordy was born with an intellectual disability, making learning a challenge. With the help of CMMB therapists, he has learned how to communicate and he's going to school.