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Human capital requires opportunities to develop and capacity to overcome challenges, together with an enabling environment that fosters critical and disruptive innovation. Exploring such features is necessary to establish the foundation of solid long-term partnerships. In this paper we describe the experience of the CRONICAS Centre of Excellence in Chronic Diseases, based at Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia in Lima, Peru, as a case study for fostering meaningful and sustainable partnerships for international collaborative research. The CRONICAS Centre of Excellence in Chronic Diseases was established in 2009 with the following Mission: "We support the development of young researchers and collaboration with national and international institutions. Our motivation is to improve population's health through high quality research." The Centre's identity is embedded in its core values - generosity, innovation, integrity, and quality- and its trajectory is a result of various interactions between multiple individuals, collaborators, teams, and institutions, which together with the challenges confronted, enables us to make an objective assessment of the partnership we would like to pursue, nurture and support. We do not intend to provide a single example of a successful partnership, but in contrast, to highlight what can be translated into opportunities to be faced by research groups based in low- and middle-income countries, and how these encounters can provide a strong platform for fruitful and sustainable partnerships. In defiant contexts, partnerships require to be nurtured and sustained. Acknowledging that all partnerships are not and should not be the same, we also need to learn from the evolution of such relationships, its key successes, hurdles and failures to contribute to the promotion of a culture of global solidarity where mutual goals, mutual gains, as well as mutual responsibilities are the norm. In so doing, we will all contribute to instil a new culture where expectations, roles and interactions among individuals and their teams are horizontal, the true nature of partnerships. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Free trade agreements (FTAs) can affect food environments and non-communicable disease risks through altering the availability of highly-processed foods. Few studies have quantified such effects. Using a natural experiment this paper quantifies changes in Peru's soft-drink market before/after entry into the US-Peru FTA, compared with Bolivia, a county with no such agreement.Methods: Difference-in-difference models were used to test for between country differences in the rate of per capita foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows, soft-drink imports, the volumes of various soft-drinks sold, and the volumes of sugar from soft-drinks before/after FTA ratification (2006) and enforcement (2009).Results: In Peru average per capita FDI-inflows rose from US$103.11 in the pre-ratification period to US$269.79 post-ratification, with little change in Bolivia. This corresponded with a 122 % increase in Peruvian soft-drink production. There was a significant between-country difference in FDI-inflows pre-/post-ratification (DID:1.07, 95 % CI:0.19-1.96; p = 0.01). Despite little difference in total per capita soft-drink sales volumes there was a significant between-country difference in per capita sugar from soft-drinks pre-/post enforcement (DID:-0.99, 95 % CI: -1.91-0.06; p = 0.03) with stagnated growth in Peru and continued growth in Bolivia. This resulted from stagnated sugar sweetened carbonates growth and increased bottled water, juice and sports & energy drinks growth in Peru, with continued carbonates growth in Bolivia. There was a significant between-country difference in per capita carbonates (DID: -1.44, 95 % CI: -2.52-0.36, p = 0.01) and bottled water (DID:0.63; 95 % CI: -0.01-1.26; p = 0.04) sales volumes.Conclusions: The FTA may have resulted in increased FDI-inflows and soft-drink production and also contributed to the diversification of soft drinks produced and sold in Peru with some positive (stagnated carbonates and increased bottled water) and some negative (increased juice and sports & energy drinks) implications for nutrition. These changes were not evident in Bolivia. These results should be interpreted cautiously given the study design limitations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The association between international migration and mental health is conditioned to several factors, and discrimination may play a significant role. Currently, Peru is one of the principal Venezuelan migrant-receiving countries in Latin America. There are around one million Venezuelan refugees and migrants in the country. This study evaluates the association between self-perceived discrimination and mental health problems in Venezuelan population living in Peru.Method: We analyzed data from the Venezuelan Population Residing in Peru Survey 2018, a nationally representative urban sample aimed at collecting information on several dimensions of Venezuelan population wellbeing. We applied logistic regression models to assess the association between self-perceived discrimination and mental health problems. Moreover, we applied the propensity score matching method as a robustness check of our results.Results: Of 9487 Venezuelans surveyed, 6806 included complete information. From this sample, 6.3% reported mental health problems related to fear, anger, anxiety, or stress. Logistic regression models showed that Venezuelans who perceived being discriminated against had 2.4 higher odds of presenting mental health problems than their non-discriminated counterparts. Moreover, propensity score matching models showed that Venezuelans who perceived being discriminated against increased by 3.5 percentage points their probability of presenting mental health problems compared to their non-discriminated counterparts.Conclusions: There is evidence that self-perceived discrimination is associated with mental health deterioration in Venezuelan migrants living in Peru. Our findings are relevant in the current geopolitical context and could be useful in the decision making processes in international health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]