COVID-19 orphaned almost 100,000 children in Peru
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Peru leads the globe in overall COVID-19 deaths per capita, with more than 6,000 Peruvians per million have died from the disease, according to AFP.
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Peru leads the world in overall COVID-19 deaths per capita.
Peru's government reported that COVID-19 has killed at least one parent or primary caregiver for approximately 100,000 children.
"Unfortunately, our country has almost 98,000 children who lost their father, mother, or guardian during the pandemic," said Peru's Minister of Women Anahi Durand, citing figures published in the medical journal The Lancet.
According to an AFP analysis of official figures, Peru leads the globe in overall COVID-19 deaths per capita, with more than 6,000 Peruvians per million having died from the disease.
Hoy en conferencia de prensa @pcmperu @MimpPeru insistimos en la importancia de aprobar el PL 680 para atender a los miles de niños en situación de orfandad vulnerable sin requisito del certificado de defunción #COVID19 Esperamos su aprobación por el @congresoperu https://t.co/nXnVKtA1Fl
— Anahi Durand (@AnahiDurandG) January 6, 2022
More than 18,000 families receive a pension of 200 soles ($50) every two months from the government.
Durand hopes to expand the benefit to include psychological and educational services, reaching nearly 83,000 children and adolescents.
According to Durand, a major problem with the existing system is that many families lack the necessary documentation to get the payment.
"Many families come to us and want to access the pension, but they do not have a death certificate for COVID-19 -- in the first and second wave people died at home, they did not have conditions to get that certificate," she explained.
The country of 33 million people is experiencing its third virus wave, with over 2 million cases reported.
Since the global epidemic began in early 2020, more than 202,900 people have died in Peru.
