Covid-19 not the only disease plaguing Latin America

By the beginning of November, the Covid-19 pandemic had already infected more than 11.5 million people in Latin America, with deaths exceeding 410,000 and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) warning of a potential second wave of contamination. But the virus has not been the only health threat during the crisis, with diphtheria resurfacing in Peru, dengue fever terrorizing Paraguay, and Haiti still battling to beat cholera.

In November, Peru was put on nationwide alert after detecting the country’s first cases of diphtheria in 20 years, resulting in two deaths so far.

The first victim was a five-year-old child in the poor district of La Victoria, in the capital city of Lima, which prompted the government to start door-to-door campaigns and launch a vaccination campaign to immunize 80,000 people in the neighborhood.

The outbreak adds insult to the injury of Peru’s coronavirus epidemic. With 1,055 deaths for every million inhabitants, Peru has one of the worst Covid-19 mortality rates in the world, surpassed only by Belgium and the microstate of San Marino, which has a population of less than 35,000.

This dramatic scenario is made even worse by the economic make-up of Peru, with...