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Source: https://www.elpais.cr/2024/01/16/cas...un-75-en-2023/
Malaria cases among the Yanomami of Brazil increased by 75% in 2023
By Sputnik
January 16, 2024
Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), January 17 (Sputnik).- The vast majority of Brazilian Yanomami indigenous people (who live in the Amazon, on the border with Venezuela) suffer from malaria, as reported on Tuesday by the national secretary of Indigenous Health of the Ministry of Brazilian Health, Weibe Tapeba, based on data collected throughout 2023.
"We reported 26,466 positive cases of the disease, which represents a 75 percent increase in notifications (compared to 2022), it is practically the entire population," lamented the official in an interview collected by the state Agencia Brasil.
The Government representative assumed that it is an "alarming" figure, but stressed that the number is due to the fact that the administration is carrying out an active search and reinforced controls, carrying out more than 140,000 tests.
"The bad thing was when there was no search, diagnosis, notification and treatment," he said, highlighting that in previous years there was no precise data on the real dimension of the Yanomami's problems.
«We must remember that we are working in an emergency situation because the territory did not receive the necessary assistance; There were communities that had not received a visit from health teams for four or five years," he criticized, in reference to the management of former president Jair Bolsonaro (2019-2022).
Just a year ago the federal government decreed a state of emergency in the Yanomami territory due to a famine and an epidemic of diseases caused by the high presence of garimpeiros (illegal gold prospectors) in this remote indigenous land.
In this context, the Armed Forces were mobilized to expel thousands of invaders and malnourished children were rescued, but a year later there are still garimpeiros in the area and the problems (such as rivers contaminated by mercury that is used to search for gold and continued threats) remain.
The Minister of Indigenous Peoples, Sônia Guajajara, stated that in the same way that the problems of the Yanomami began decades ago, the solution will not come in a few months, and that the situation will only be completely restored when the ecosystem is regenerated.
The Yanomami indigenous land is the largest in Brazil (9.6 million hectares of jungle) where 30,400 indigenous people live, most of them with very little or no contact with people from outside, with the exception of the garimpeiros. (Sputnik)
Malaria cases among the Yanomami of Brazil increased by 75% in 2023
By Sputnik
January 16, 2024
Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), January 17 (Sputnik).- The vast majority of Brazilian Yanomami indigenous people (who live in the Amazon, on the border with Venezuela) suffer from malaria, as reported on Tuesday by the national secretary of Indigenous Health of the Ministry of Brazilian Health, Weibe Tapeba, based on data collected throughout 2023.
"We reported 26,466 positive cases of the disease, which represents a 75 percent increase in notifications (compared to 2022), it is practically the entire population," lamented the official in an interview collected by the state Agencia Brasil.
The Government representative assumed that it is an "alarming" figure, but stressed that the number is due to the fact that the administration is carrying out an active search and reinforced controls, carrying out more than 140,000 tests.
"The bad thing was when there was no search, diagnosis, notification and treatment," he said, highlighting that in previous years there was no precise data on the real dimension of the Yanomami's problems.
«We must remember that we are working in an emergency situation because the territory did not receive the necessary assistance; There were communities that had not received a visit from health teams for four or five years," he criticized, in reference to the management of former president Jair Bolsonaro (2019-2022).
Just a year ago the federal government decreed a state of emergency in the Yanomami territory due to a famine and an epidemic of diseases caused by the high presence of garimpeiros (illegal gold prospectors) in this remote indigenous land.
In this context, the Armed Forces were mobilized to expel thousands of invaders and malnourished children were rescued, but a year later there are still garimpeiros in the area and the problems (such as rivers contaminated by mercury that is used to search for gold and continued threats) remain.
The Minister of Indigenous Peoples, Sônia Guajajara, stated that in the same way that the problems of the Yanomami began decades ago, the solution will not come in a few months, and that the situation will only be completely restored when the ecosystem is regenerated.
The Yanomami indigenous land is the largest in Brazil (9.6 million hectares of jungle) where 30,400 indigenous people live, most of them with very little or no contact with people from outside, with the exception of the garimpeiros. (Sputnik)