"Health care for all" making impact in Peru

For Peru's pharmaceuticals and health care market, the main development over the past few months has been the September 2006 launch of a new five-year health care plan named "Salud para todos" (Health care for all), says a Business Monitor International report. The key objectives are increasing the percentage of institutional childbirths in rural areas, decreasing infant and perinatal mortality and cutting chronic malnutrition in children younger than five.

As part of the plan, the Ministry of Health announced a number of urgent measures, which were due to be introduced within 180 days. These included the joint purchase of medicines in conjunction with the Social Security services (EsSalud), armed forces and police; the re-equipping of medical establishments; and wide-reaching vaccination programs.

As things stand, the Peruvian pharmaceuticals market is currently approaching its value of 1997, at around $495.0 million, making it one of the smallest in Latin America. Until very recently, notes BMI, regulatory conditions were considered unacceptable by international standards and, although there has been significant reform in terms of intellectual property, other areas of market regulation are poorly conceived and enforced.