Venezuelan immigration in Peru: challenges and opportunities from a health perspective

Abstract

As a result of the political, social, and economic crisis in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, more than 700,000 people have immigrated to Peru since the second semester of 2017. In the year following the 2017 census, Peru's population grew by nearly one million, some 300,000 of them Peruvian, the rest being predominantly young Venezuelan immigrants. This article describes and analyzes the situation and health implications stemming from the fact that Peru became a migratory destination. To this end, a secondary analysis of surveys applied to the Venezuelan population in Peru was carried out. The main challenges arise from limited access to healthcare. Sexual and reproductive healthcare shows the largest deficits, below Peru's urban populations. The vulnerabilities of the Venezuelan migrant population are not detached from those already faced by Peru's poorest urban populations, whose services do not meet their needs and demands, neither in terms of coverage nor quality. However, immigration also generates opportunities, such as that represented by health professionals and technicians, who could contribute to offset the deficit generated by the emigration of thousands of Peruvian health professionals in recent decades. It is also an opportunity not to lose sight of the fact that inequalities in the right to healthcare are still challenges to inclusive development.