President Lula (PT) at an event in 2008, during his second term.| Photo: Fabio Rodrigues Pozzebom/Agência Brasil

Malaria cases in Yanomami indigenous lands increased by 2,672.8% between 2003 and 2010, the period of the first and second terms of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) as president of the Republic, according to the Ministry of Health. In 2003, there were 246 registered cases of malaria; in 2004, 785; the numbers progressively increased and reached 6,821 in 2010. Data were collected by People’s Gazette through the Freedom of Information Act platform.

In January, via Twitter, Lula called the situation of the Yanomamis in Roraima a “genocide”, said that the tragedy of the indigenous people was a “premeditated crime” committed “by a government insensitive to the suffering of the Brazilian people”, and cited the transmission of malaria as one of the main causes of this genocide.

In 2012, under the Dilma government, there was a 67.6% reduction in malaria cases in Yanomami lands compared to 2010. The decline was interrupted in 2013, and the following seven years only saw an increase in cases. From 2014 to 2015, for example, the numbers rose 57.7%. The growth trend reached its peak in 2020, the year of the Covid-19 pandemic, when 21,877 cases of malaria were recorded in Yanomami lands. In 2021, there was a decrease of 25.4% compared to 2020, and, in 2022, there was a decrease of 29.4% compared to 2021. It is worth mentioning that, according to data from the Ministry of Health, the Yanomami population in Brazil almost doubled between 2003 and 2019, which must be taken into account when analyzing the numbers.