Structural adjustment programs and the trickle-down effect: a case study of the Fujimori period in Peru, using reproductive health as an indicator for levels of poverty.

The purpose of this analysis is to investigate whether the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development/United Nations/World Bank (OECD/UN/WB) poverty reduction objectives are compatible with the neo-liberal development model, using Peru as a case study. Three OECD/UN reproductive health indicators were selected to assess poverty: female literacy, infant mortality and maternal mortality. Fertility rates were also analyzed to explore the impact that neo-Malthusian policies have wielded. Shortly after his ascendance to power in 1990, President Fujimori undertook health finance reforms to promote cost-effectiveness and efficiency under political guidance from international financial institutions (IFIs). Internationally, Peru was portrayed as a neo-liberal success story. However, maternal mortality rates throw into contention claims that economic growth has a trickle-down effect. From the fertility rates, it can be deduced that the advent of structural adjustment has led to a resurgence of a neo-Malthusianism approach, putting family planning on the front burner, to the detriment of reproductive health.