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This article analyzes some examples about how the Ministry of Health of Peru has used evidence for policy and program formulation, implementation and evaluation. It describes the process by which health budget programs are based and strengthened with scientific evidence. Provides an overview about how the development of clinical guidelines methodology is facilitating the generation of high quality evidence based clinical guidelines.It presents some examples of specific information needs of the Ministry of Health to which the Instituto Nacional de Salud has responded, and the impact of that collaboration. Finally, the article proposes future directions for the use of research methodology especially relevant for the development and evaluation of policy and programs, as well as the development of networks of health technology assessment at the national and international level.

This article reviews public health interventions for preparedness and response to natural disasters within the context of El Niño phenomenon using systematic reviews and a review of revisions with emphasis on vector-borne diseases, water-borne diseases, malnutrition, heat stress, drought, flood-associated diseases, mental health problems, vulnerability of the physical health-system infrastructure, as well as long-term policies aimed at protecting the populations of these cases. Environmental interventions were identified, including vector control, chemoprophylaxis, immunization, and intradomiciliary water treatment. While these finds are based primarily on systematic reviews, it is necessary to evaluate the benefit of these interventions within the population, according to the context of each region.

We aim to determine the prevalence of self prescribing behaviour during pregnancy and its characteristics. For this purpose, we designed a cross sectional study and interviewed 400 pregnant women who had their prenatal care at Instituto Nacional Materno Perinatal, Lima. We found that 10.5% of the patients (42 patients) had a self prescribing behavior during pregnancy, 64.5% think that self prescribing behavior can produce congenital malformations. The medications used were classified as type A and B according to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Paracetamol was used more frequently (47.6%) followed by amoxicillin (16.7%). All the women who self-prescribed have had this behavior before pregnancy. According to these results, we conclude there is a low prevalence of self-prescribing behavior during pregnancy compared to the international literature.