Laura project 2.0: Improving women’s health in Peru with the support of higher education institutions, women and local authorities

Summary

Speaking openly about vaginal health is taboo in Peru, and public attention to intimate female care has been neglected for decades. For instance, during the present pandemic, several primary health care centers shut down gynaecological consultations, affecting women suffering from vaginal infections. With the current Laura 2.0 project, we aim to create a national (in Peru) and international research network investigating on vaginal health by actively engaging several key stakeholders from society and academia. Higher education institutions (HEIs) will play a key role in achieving Laura 2.0 aim. Universidad Nacional de la Amazonia Peruana (UNAP) and Universidad Nacional San Agustín de Arequipa (UNSA) are the prominent universities in the Peruvian Amazon and the Highlands regions, respectively. Both HEIs are strengthening their key roles in developing their regions by consolidating their research capacity. The current project will strengthen the national (UNAP-UNSA-UPCH) and international (local partners and UAntwerp) collaboration by actively developing research capacities in a multidisciplinary approach. More importantly involving (for the first time in Peru), citizens (women) in science, via a citizen science project inspired by the Belgian Isala project (https://isala.be/en).

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