Peru: Life Helmets Initiative aims to avoid COVID-19 contagion

In fact, it is part of the personal protective equipment (PPE) that health professionals —who directly attend to patients— must wear, and it is mandatory in order to travel in urban and interprovincial means of transportation.

Within this framework, it is increasingly common to see ordinary citizens who add the face shield to the indispensable face mask before going out for shopping and work purposes or to carry out any other activity far from home.

However, there are sectors of the population that were not familiar with the use of face shields —such as traditional market vendors— despite the fact that food supply centers were the major sources of contagion during the previous months.

This situation forced authorities to temporarily close food markets until vendors adopted the health protection measures established to reduce —as much as possible— the threat of contagion.

In order to resume activities, these markets had to set up hand-washing points, reduce capacities, as well as hang plastic sheets from the ceiling to provide a barrier between staff and customers, among other measures.

However, given the great infectious potential of the novel coronavirus, it is necessary to strengthen the level of personal protection, especially of the face since COVID-19 easily enters through the mouth, nostrils or eye cavities.

Despite all the health prevention measures adopted so far, traditional markets remain the possible contagion sources, following the economic reactivation that led to the movement of people on the streets to work and buy what they need to survive.

Taking this situation into account, the Life Helmets Initiative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Pan American Health Organization (WHO/PAHO), the Municipality of Lima, Peru Makers and the Peruvian Network of FabLabs came to life, as they optimized a face shield model that meets the needs of traditional market vendors.

Thanks to this project, it has been possible to produce face shields made with recyclable and biodegradable materials that do not hinder the work of vendors and are easy to disassemble, disinfect, and reuse.

So far, Life Helmets have been delivered to 1,000 vendors at the Central Market of Lima, and work is being done on the design of a new equipment that adapts to the specific work of other essential sectors on the front line in the fight against COVID-19 such as: health personnel, as well as members of the Armed Forces and the National Police.