Peru: Physical and Political Characteristics and the Impact of a COVID-19 Pandemic
Global Location, Geography, and Transportation
The republic of Peru (pronounced in Spanish) is a country located in western South America and neighbors Ecuador and Colombia. Peru is a country filled with rainforests that border the Amazon thus has large areas filled with tropical rainforests. Peru has small cities and towns due to the large coverage of the rain forests. There is a great diversity of climate due to the mountains and rainforests. In this case, there is mostly rainfall since it borders the amazon. There are however sunny seasons but restricted to the areas without many rainforests. Transportation in Peru is mainly road as people use buses and cars (taxis) for their daily needs. There are railways in the country as well as airplanes. In the areas near the rainforests, transport is mostly by boats.
Peru is located in South America, a continent plagued by poor economies and many of the cities are slums. This means that people crowd in these slums and many lack access to basic healthcare. Additionally, people in these areas lack required face masks, cannot sanitize or wash their hands with soap and water regularly as required. Therefore, when the first case was confirmed, there was the likelihood of the pandemic spreading since people live close to each other. The climate does not impact the spread of COVID-19 but transportation hugely contributed to the spread of COVID-19. People traveling in buses were at the highest risk of spreading the disease since there is no social distancing. COVID-19 virus cohabits in public spaces thus anyone touching these areas helps spread the epidemic.
Population, Race, and Ethnicity
The Republic of Peru has approximately 32 million people and includes Asians, Africans, Amerindians, and Europeans. The mixture of the different cultures introduced diversity in the country. Also, there are no minor communities as everyone entering the country is required to learn Spanish as it’s the main language spoken. When the COVID-19 hit, president Martin Vizcarra announced that all visitors and refugees were to be provided with visas and those who had one had them extended. The president orders everyone is under quarantine and those who needed quality care after being infected were to receive the required treatment as a citizen of Peru. Therefore, refugees in the country were accorded the same treatment as citizens. The purpose of this was ensuring COVID-19 does not spread since the epidemic does not recognize the visitor, the refugee, or the citizen. It is the responsibility of each leader to implement measures that ensure the safety of all people.
Government
The Republic of Peru has a unitary presidential governance system. This means that there is a central government ruled by one president elected democratically. In this case, the president is the head of state that is mandated to rule for five years without re-election. Currently, the Peruvian government is not stable due to the ongoing wars between the different parties ruling in the government. However, this has not caused any civil wars and leaders have resolved their issues amicably. The republic of Peru’s governance is not affected by terrorism therefore, terror attacks cannot be said to destabilize the government. The multi-party system is what causes the internal wars within the government; however, the president is designated to make the final decision concerning his government.
Yes, the political wars that have been present in the Republic of Peru have led to a financial deficit before the COVID-19 epidemic. Therefore, the Republic of PERU lacked the funds to respond to the needs of the citizens after COVID 19 struck. The republic of Peru received help from the world health organization in terms of finances and the appropriate measures to take following the epidemic. In this case, the World Health Organization supplied the funds to help Peru enter into a state of emergency since March 16, 2020. All in all, Peru lacked the funds to respond to the health care needs of citizens during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Economy
The Republic of Peru has a stable economy and is considered one of the best in the world. Data produced by the World Bank shows that Peru has one of the fastest-growing economies globally (). The exports of Peru are Copper Ore, Gold, Petroleum, Refined Copper, and Zinc Ore. The imports of Peru to support the economy include Refined Petroleum, delivery trucks, broadcasting equipment, and cars. The country mostly imports from the US, Mexico, Chile, and China. The gross national product (GNP) of Peru is 438.6 billion as of 2018. As per the world data bank, the GNP of Peru is one of the fastest reduction rates of poverty globally and aims to reach the levels of China and the US.
Peru is a developing country and when the COVID-19 epidemic hit the country, it registered more than 2,000 pandemic deaths. Therefore, when the COVID-19 pandemic struck Peru, it led to financial strain since the country has a developing economy. The entity that will be most affected includes the refugees and visitors in the country. This is because they do not have the health insurance that is offered to the citizens of Peru. The president offered health services to the visitors affected by the COVID-19 epidemic. The economy was affected and WHO offered financial assistance to the country and they entered into a state of emergency.
References
IMF (2020). Six Things to Know About Peru’s Economy in 2020. IMF Country Focus. https://www.imf.org/en/News/Articles/2020/01/14/NA011420-Six-Things-to-Know-About-Peru-Economy-in-2020
Letzing, J. (2020). The Plight of Peru Illustrates the Danger of COVID-19 to Developing Countries. Global Agenda. https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/06/the-plight-of-peru-illustrates-the-danger-of-covid-19-to-developing-countries/
Schellekens, P., & Sourrouille, D. M. (2020). COVID-19 Mortality in Rich and Poor Countries: A Tale of Two Pandemics?. World Bank Policy Research Working Paper, (9260).
The World Bank (2020). How the World Bank Group is helping countries with COVID-19 (coronavirus). https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/factsheet/2020/02/11/how-the-world-bank-group-is-helping-countries-with-covid-19-coronavirus