LimaKids: Street Clinic

The LimaKids Street Clinic, bringing medicine to where it is needed

Peru ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child 1990, a document explicitly stating that all children have the right “to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health and to facilities for the treatment of illness and rehabilitation of health” and that “States Parties shall strive to ensure that no child is deprived of his or her right of access to such health care services.” It is clear, however, that care for marginalized youths, such as those living on the streets, is far from the “highest attainable standard”. Globally, human rights violations against children living in the streets and in reform centers occur in the form of beatings, sexual assaults, and murder. Children are forced to survive through dangerous means such as begging, prostitution, and theft. Pregnancy rates are high, AIDS rates and the incidence of other sexually transmitted diseases are increasing, parasitic infections are prominent, and drug use, including cocaine and inhalants, and mental health disorders are extremely prevalent.

LimaKids is partnering with several local nongovernmental organizations (NGO), medical schools, and hospitals in order to bring free, quality healthcare to children living on the streets of Lima. Our partners include Asociación Benéfica PRISMA, SUNY Stony Brook School of Medicine, and Baystate Medical Center. The objectives of the mobile clinic are the following:

Develop a sustainable model for providing accessible medical care and counseling services to children living on the streets of Lima, Peru.

Seek to broaden the range of healthcare resources currently available to street children via the establishment of referral networks both with local health centers and with orphanages in the Lima metropolitan area.

Define the epidemiological profile of children seen by the mobile clinic so that services can better address the particular physical and mental health care needs of this population.

Create a partnership of Peruvian and US-based organizations with the common goal of improving the health of children living on the streets of Lima, Peru