[Overview of the health situation in Peru]

This work presents a general view of the health situation in Peru in the last few decades by presenting a short historic development of health and pointing out the changes that have taken place as a consequence of the social, economic and political transformations and affected the population's health. The process of change in public and private health services, the influence of conceptions and sanitary policies of international organizations, the health system and the health situation are mentioned. Two problems of great impact are presented: the cholera epidemics and political violence.