Three years ago, Peru discovered its first cases of covid and sank into strict four-month confinement. It has since been the most bereaved country in the world with more than 600 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants. The health system could not absorb the shock, oxygen ran out, patients died outside hospital doors. Three years after the first wave, the country is still healing the scars left by this pandemic.
In the streets of Lima, there are only a few passers-by who still wear the mask, or even the double mask, compulsory until last September. But, for many, impossible to forget the pandemic that claimed 219,000 lives in the country. In Peru, almost everyone knows someone who died of covid. The disease took Antonio’s wife, 54, from the first wave, in 2020: “ The mother of my children died, but also several members of my family, aunts, my mother’s brother also died of covid. It affected me a lot, it was terrible to lose my family and my wife, and to see my children like that, without anyone to feed them, to take care of them. “.
100,000 children have lost at least one parent
Since the death of his wife, Antonio has moved with his two children to the poor neighborhood of San Juan de Lurigancho, in Lima. Her 16-year-old daughter Naomi is one of 100,000 children orphaned by one parent since the pandemic: It was very hard for me to lose my mother, I had always lived with her. It depressed me a lot. We had to learn to create more bond with our father, to love each other, it was less the case before ».
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Almost half of these children receive government assistance: 50 euros per month and visits by a social worker. Naomi’s helps her find training. The two years of distance schooling did a lot of damage and the teenager dropped out of school: “ A lot of us haven’t studied well, I couldn’t concentrate, there were so many things going on. And we lost our friends, the social interaction “.
Psychological sequelae
Naomi has recovered from her depression. But many teenagers still feel psychological consequences such as anxiety or behavioral problems, as noted by Deissy Orellana, social worker: “ At first it was hard. Many teenagers repressed their feelings, they refused to express themselves. I saw many families destroyed, disunited. The dad was dead. There was no income, the mothers had to go out to work, and there was no one left to take care of the children. “.
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In addition to bereavement, families have had to deal with the economic consequences of the pandemic. Four months of confinement in 2020, restrictions until last year. The poorest have suffered the most, explains economist Hugo Vega: In terms of GDP, we are 4% above 2019 GDP and consumption has increased by 5%. But incomes have not caught up with inflation. During the period of social immobilization, the poorest 30% of inhabitants could not go out to work and telecommute. They were the most affected in 2020 and recovered the least in 2021. The poverty rate has now fallen to 26% but this remains above pre-pandemic levels “.
Political and social crisis
For Deissy Orellana, the social worker, there are still reasons to hope for better days, three years after the start of the pandemic: “ I see a lot of resilience in families. After a year of support, I see stronger families, some have found a job, they have reorganized “.
A resilience necessary to face the new challenges of the country: inflation, food insecurity, rising energy prices and for several weeks, a major political and social crisis.