Latin America

Eye care is another winning category in consumer health in Peru in 2023, with a growing number of people seeking products which will soothe their eyes after spending long hours working and/or studying, in addition to spending long periods of time on…

The climatic context of 2023, caused by the El Niño Costero weather event, has increased digestive diseases such as diarrhoea and nausea, caused especially by rotavirus. Indeed, the National Centre for Epidemiology, Disease Prevention and Control…

Dietary supplements is enjoying healthy growth, with trends similar to those seen in vitamins. For example, products which offer multiple benefits are proving popular and, in this case, combination dietary supplements is showing the most robust…

Dermatologicals, in some regards, are driven by environmental factors. As such, the emergence of the El Niño Costero climatological event, which increased temperatures in Peru, especially along the coast, ultimately resulted in a higher number of…

Consumers have been returning to doctors’ surgeries in the post-pandemic landscape, thus hindering the sales of OTC medicines which they are instead accessing via prescription. This is noted to be the case with antihistamines, for example, along with…

Consumer health shows variable recovery in 2023, with an ongoing return to the normalisation of sales patterns following the atypical period of the pandemic. Challenges, however, continue, such as the departure of President Castillo's government, in…

Analgesics benefitted from the era of COVID-19, as consumers sought out pain relief such as acetaminophen and ibuprofen, both of which saw extensive coverage in the media as low-cost products that could treat symptoms of the virus quickly and…

Consumer health declined in volume sales while retail value sales grew below inflation in 2023. This was mainly due to significant falls in the vitamins and dietary supplements and weight management and wellbeing categories while sports nutrition and…

Consumer health sales grew moderately in 2023 as consumers prioritised their spending on essential goods over preventive health. As a result, vitamins and dietary supplements and weight management and wellbeing were the most affected. However, sports…

The wound care category is set to see volume sales continue to fall in 2023, though at a slower pace than in the previous year. The COVID-19 crisis saw people ;largely confined to their homes and less likely to experience the kinds of minor injuries…

Weight management and wellbeing sales are set to rise in 2023, led in part by rising unit prices. Strong retail sales growth has been observed in meal replacement, slimming teas, and weight loss supplements, while supplement nutrition drinks has seen…

The pandemic period that ushered in a boom for vitamin sales is coming to a close. Many consumers have placed the COVID-19 period in the rear-view mirror and are looking ahead to a world where the SARS-CoV-2 virus is not a constant worry. The…

Steep unit price increases for many sports nutrition products proved to be too much for the category towards the end of the review period, leading to current value decline in 2021 and 2022. Supply chain issues related to protein availability and…

Even with the high rate of inflation and growing economic uncertainty in Guatemala, paediatric consumer health is seeing a positive performance. As children are back to in-person learning on a full-time basis and are once again participating…

Similar to other countries in the region, Guatemala boasts a long history and strong tradition of herbal/traditional remedies and practices of natural medicine. Many of these products are commercialised informally, sometimes in unpackaged or…

Digestive remedies is set to see positive growth in 2023, with hectic modern lifestyles and convenience orientated diets supporting demand. As many consumers have returned to dining out, consuming more street food, and in general straying from the…

Towards the end of the review period, direct seller Herbalife launched a new product called Immunity Essentials. This supplement can be mixed into water, tea or other drinks, and is taken once a day to support the functioning of the immune system. It…

Top topical antifungals brands such as Canesten (Bayer), Lamisil (Haleon), and Unesia (Genomma) keep this segment competitive as each continues vying for more market share. Consumer demand for these products is expected to remain strong over the…

Cough, cold and allergy (hay fever) remedies are widely consumed consumer health items in the Guatemalan market. These products have established broad distribution throughout the country, with products available throughout the modern and traditional…

Consumer health in Honduras experienced a year of growth in value terms in 2023 that was in line with the country's inflation. Categories such as analgesics, cough, cold and allergy (hay fever) remedies, dermatologicals, and sports nutrition…

Consumer health has seen demand dampened by consumers being confronted with very high inflation. The rate of 9.2% in 2022 was the highest experienced in decades. As a result, more consumers have been forced to prioritise household spending on…

Analgesics is set to see a decline in sales in 2023 as consumers have migrated away from aspirin in an uncertain economic environment and sought to prioritise household essentials, while turning to other categories to treat basic ailments such as…

Sales growth of consumer health in El Salvador in 2023 varied across categories. While OTC performed well, growing at above inflation, preventive health categories such as vitamins, dietary supplements and weight management recorded significant…

Wound care is expected to positive current value and volume growth in 2023. The full opening of society, post pandemic, supports volume sales, as people are more active, and as a consequence there are more small injuries. Continuing population growth…

Wound care is a very mature category in the Dominican Republic, with little innovation or new product launches to spark consumer interest in recent years. The category has consequently seen little in terms of growth given the very high level of…

The current offerings in wound care products remain predominantly basic, simply providing various shapes and sizes to cover injuries on different body parts. However, consumer awareness of innovative features in these products is generally low, as…

As pandemic-related restrictions in Chile started to ease in 2021, local consumers began to spend greater time outside of the home, including participating in outdoor activities. This led to a rise in incidents requiring wound care, thereby boosting…

Wound care is expected to register a further healthy increase in current value sales, as consumers continue to lead more active lives post pandemic. However, constant value growth is expected to be more muted, as wound care is dominated by imported…

Retail sales of wound care products saw a fairly static performance in volume terms in 2023, continuing the trend of the previous year. This was in spite of the resumption of pre-pandemic lifestyles, including a return to work, school and outdoor…

Weight management and wellbeing is expected to register both a decline in value and volume sales in 2023. Post pandemic, consumers are out and about again and are also able to visit the gym and be more active in order to lose weight. Therefore, there…

Meal replacement continues to account for most value sales in weight management and wellbeing in 2023 and recorded further growth in the year. They enjoy strong sales promotion from the direct selling players and consumers are highly familiar with…

Amongst the major concerns of Colombians are health issues associated with being overweight or obese. Awareness of such issues has been raised by government efforts, which have included issuing an obesity law in 2009 that promotes healthier eating…

After experiencing a significant double-digit decline in retail value terms in 2022, weight management and wellbeing is only showing signs of a modest rebound in 2023 with flat growth. However, the overall outlook remains subdued as consumers…

Weight management and wellbeing is expected to register an increase in current value sales, though growth in volume sales is expected to be minimal. Rising inflation as a result of a sharp decline in foreign currency reserve is pushing up prices,…

Weight management and wellbeing saw a mixed performance in 2023, in view of the ongoing economic crisis. Such products are mostly expensive, as well as being viewed as non-essential, and are therefore financially out of reach for lower-income…

Vitamins are expected to register a decline in volume sales in 2023. The boon from the pandemic is long over and vitamins that claim immune boosting benefits are seeing a significant decline. As such, value sales are now on par with pre pandemic…

Given the persistent inflationary pressures experienced in the country, it is not surprising that the vitamins category has also seen significant price increases. According to official sources, vitamins experienced a rise of 6.9% in 2022, which is…

After the COVID-19 crisis, the demand for vitamins shrunk. With a significant reduction in COVID-19 cases and less severe disease, consumers withdrew their attention from vitamins, especially those that they did not have the habit of regularly…

The retail volume declines recorded by vitamins in 2022, for both multivitamins and single vitamins, are noticeably slowing in 2023. In 2021, the category’s dynamics shifted as the pandemic continued to drive demand for vitamins due to heightened…

Vitamins are expected to be the worst performing consumer health product in 2023, with a significant decline in volume sales. The boon from the pandemic is long over and in particular vitamins that claim immune boosting benefits are seeing a…

Having experienced a boom in demand during the pandemic years, retail volume sales of vitamins saw a more muted performance in 2023. With concerns around the COVID-19 outbreak beginning to subside, consumers were less concerned about boosting their…

Sports nutrition products typically have very high prices, which limits the growth potential to an extent. As such, consumption is limited to consumers in medium and high income groups. In addition, some sports nutrition products sold in Ecuador can…

Despite persistent inflationary pressures affecting the country and the sports nutrition industry in particular, consumers continue to purchase these items to help them maintain their regimes of fitness regimes. The fitness boom in the country is…

Sports nutrition continues to register positive growth in spite of rising prices. Health consciousness in Colombia has been a strong motivating factor for many individuals, pushing them not only to incorporate sports into their daily routines, but…

Value sales of sports nutrition in Chile are experiencing a remarkable resurgence in 2023 with double-digit growth after a challenging 2022. A marginal drop in sales the previous year was primarily attributed to the significant reduction in Chileans’…

In 2023, sports nutrition is expected to register a slight increase in current value sales, though constant value sales are expected to fall, as rising costs hit profitability. While Bolivia has managed to protect itself to a large extent from…

Retail sales of sports nutrition products continued to grow strongly in constant value terms in 2023, despite restrictive measures on imports, as the government sought to protect its reserves. While the global creatine shortage led to some supply…

Sleep disorders have increased in Colombia since the pandemic due to the increased incidence of mental health issues and anxiety, whether diagnosed or not. The country still faces barriers to timely attention and diagnosis of psychological and…

Demand for sleep aids is growing in 2023 to remain significantly above pre-pandemic levels. Although value growth can also be considered healthy, it falls short when compared to the remarkable figures observed in 2021, when the category experienced…

During 2023, sleep aids continued to benefit from the post- pandemic landscape of ongoing global economic instability, compounded by rampant inflation, which placed pressure on both middle- and low-income groups. As a result, consumers were forced to…