Malaria cases soar among Yanomami – 02/23/2024 – Daily life

Emergency health actions in Yanomami land were unable to contain outbreaks of malaria among indigenous people – the proliferation of the disease is directly related to the retaking of spaces by illegal miners. In a single month, December 2023, 4,700 cases were reported, which is equivalent to 151 cases per day, on average.

The information appears in the most recent report from the Yanomami COE (Emergency Operation Center), linked to the Ministry of Health. The document was released on Thursday night (22), with information on deaths and incidences of diseases throughout the year 2023 – the most recent report had data from January to November.

It is in this bulletin that the Ministry of Health points out the occurrence of 363 Yanomami deaths in 2023, the first year of the Lula (PT) government and the first year of the public health emergency in the territory, declared on January 20 of last year.

The number of deaths is greater than the notifications in 2022, the last year of the Jair Bolsonaro (PL) government, which encouraged invasions by miners – there were around 20 thousand invaders in the territory that year.

In 2022, there were 343 death records. Health professionals do not compare the two data due to the high underreporting of cases in the last years of Bolsonaro’s administration.

Frontline professionals in Yanomami land say they are unaware of regions of the country with such high incidence of malaria. The disease is a tragedy for the health of indigenous people and the way of life in communities, with a direct impact on obtaining food.

Successive malaria is common, and the disease is associated with malnutrition and diseases linked to hunger, such as pneumonia and diarrhea, all at the same time. The body loses physical stamina for work in the fields, fueling the cycle of hunger.

Severe cases of malaria and the repeated incidence of the disease lead to severe liver damage. Many indigenous people with this condition need medical care in hospitals in Boa Vista (RR), a city an hour or two away, by air, from communities in the traditional territory.

The predatory activity of mining expands breeding grounds for the mosquito that transmits malaria and the circulation of hosts – sometimes the miners, sometimes the indigenous people themselves, who have the habit of moving around the territory, including areas taken over by invaders.

In 2023, according to the COE bulletin, 29,900 cases of malaria were recorded. Of this total, 4,696 notifications were added in December alone.

In some regions of the territory, the predominance of cases was the most serious form of the disease, called falciparum, the name of the protozoan of the genus Plasmodium –Plasmodium falciparum– most feared in the region.

With falciparum, there is always a medical emergency, given the risk of progression to serious situations within a few days, according to Fiocruz protocols (Fundação Oswaldo Cruz).

In the Auaris health hub, the most distant region of the territory, located in Venezuela, there were 7,899 positive cases in 2023. Health professionals believe that all 4,740 indigenous people in Auaris contracted malaria last year.

In Surucucu, another epicenter of the Yanomami humanitarian crisis, positive cases of malaria totaled 2,130 in one year. In December alone, there were 863 additional notifications. 2,826 indigenous people live in the region.

The Yanomami COE states in the report that the number of cases may present significant variations due to the logistics of returning notification forms and inclusion in the surveillance system. The Yanomami land is the largest in the country, and is difficult to access, mainly by air.

According to the document, the government expanded the distribution of medicines to combat malaria, with more than 1 million units in 2023. There was also an increase in exams –118,193– and active searches for cases –94,207.

The COE bulletin also points to 7,104 cases of severe acute respiratory syndrome in 2023, of which 1,506 in December alone. Cases of acute diarrhea, which mainly affects children, totaled 10,461, 911 of which in the last month of the year.

The report omits the age range of the indigenous people who died and the causes of their deaths.

In the bulletin that compiled data until November, and which recorded 308 deaths, there is detail on ages and causes. More than half of the deaths were children up to four years old. Among the main causes of deaths are pneumonia, diarrhea, malaria and malnutrition.

The Lula government stated that it increased the number of professionals in the territory from 690 to 1,058 and that it increased the number of Mais Médicos professionals from 9 to 28. In addition, 3,407 indigenous people were removed for medical care, nutritional recovery for 400 children and the administration of 59,000 doses of vaccines, he said.

The government promises to start the construction of an indigenous hospital in Boa Vista. “We are seeking this dialogue with the indigenous population itself to develop a project”, said the Secretary of Indigenous Health at the Ministry of Health, Weibe Tapeba. There will also be the construction or renovation of 22 basic units, according to him.