Peru

While malnutrition rates have dropped, child hunger continues to be a serious public health issue in rural areas.

Despite strong economic growth during recent years, the gap in wealth between urban and rural areas of Peru is growing.

Peru has made significant achievements in reducing child malnutrition rates, but undernutrition remains a problem in the country’s Andean regions.

After Colombia, Peru hosts the second largest population of Venezuelan migrants in the world. This has started to generate xenophobic reactions as politicians and mayors publicly show their rejection of the new arrivals. Meanwhile, Venezuelans have increased their complaints about unethical and illegal practices from their employers, for example pay below the minimum wage and the absence of contracts.

Country facts

32m
Peru has a population of 32 million people.
82
Peru ranks 82nd out of 189 countries in the Human Development Index.
850,000
850,000 Venezuelan migrants live in Peru.

How an ancient recipe is keeping kids in school

In Peru, an ancient Andean recipe is being used to make sure local children have the energy they need to develop and learn. In rural parts of the country, many indigenous children are suffering from anaemia. This affects their health and cognitive development.

Action Against Hunger is working with local organisations to train and support local communities to re-visit these ancient ‘blood drying’ techniques and use them in their daily life. This work has contributed to a 12% decrease in anaemia in the areas where we work.

Our reach

5,385
We reached more than 5,000 people through our programmes in Peru in 2019.
32
We have 32 staff based in Piura, Puno and Ayacucho.
1,887
We reached almost 1,900 people through our food security and livelihoods programme in 2019.

Action Against Hunger’s work in Peru

Our teams carry out a range of food security programmes to tackle child malnutrition in Peru. We also aim to strengthen government health systems and community-based organisations to improve information sharing, promote breastfeeding, and improve nutrition for children under three years of age.

We work with local governments to reduce the high levels of child malnutrition in the rural areas of Puno and Ayacucho. We also run projects with young women and children in northern Lima to improve employment levels and entrepreneurship.

In 2019, we launched an emergency humanitarian response following the arrival of 850,000 Venezuelans in the country.

Save lives today

Help more vulnerable communities in Peru beat hunger.

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Colombia

Man standing in fields holding up crops that have died.

Years of violence and conflict have displaced rural communities in this South American country, causing multiple humanitarian crises.

Improving livelihoods

Guatemala

Poverty, unemployment and climate change are having a devastating impact on vulnerable communities.

Providing food assistance

Nicaragua

For decades, Nicaragua has been battling with high rates of chronic malnutrition and the impacts of climate change.

Setting up new programmes