Dozens of indigenous children with malnutrition and acute diseases have been hospitalized in northern Brazil, with relatives in hammocks holding their emaciated frames in scenes that underscore the gravity of a public health crisis.
The health secretary of Boa Vista, the capital of Roraima state, on Friday said that 59 indigenous children were at the only pediatric hospital in the state, 45 of them from the Yanomami people. Eight were under intensive care.
That compares with a total 703 hospitalizations in all of last year, the secretary said, adding that most children have been taken to the hospital for acute diarrhea, gastroenterocolitis, malnutrition, pneumonia and malaria.
Photo: AFP
Brazil’s government last week declared a medical emergency in the Yanomami territory, the country’s largest indigenous reservation, after reports of children dying of malnutrition and other diseases caused by illegal gold mining.
“Malnutrition is the biggest problem right now,” Boa Vista Secretary of Health Regiane Matos said. “These people were forgotten in their communities. In recent years, it has only gotten worse, and what we want now are solutions.”
She said that illegal mining in the region “aggravated” the crisis, severely polluting the territory’s crucial waterways, where Yanomamis get their water and food.
Officials have called the crisis a “genocide,” blaming the administration of former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro for the neglect, with some saying the territory now looks like a “concentration camp.”
The reservation has been invaded by illegal miners for decades, but incursions multiplied after Bolsonaro won office in 2018 promising to allow mining on previously protected lands.
“The invaders contaminated and destroyed the rivers, and people have been drinking dirty water,” Yanomami and Yek’wana Indigenous Health District Council president Junior Hekurari Yanomami said, adding that malaria cases have also spiked in the past few years.
The Yanomami calls for government to combat the disease were not met with a response, he said, accusing the Bolsonaro administration of “negligence.”
On Thursday, Brazil’s Supreme Court said in a statement it had noticed signs that the Bolsonaro government had failed to comply with court decisions aimed at protecting the Yanomamis.
At the Boa Vista pediatric hospital, Reuters witnessed several indigenous children so thin their ribs were visible.
Their parents called out for help.
“Many are sick, there is no food,” said Marcelo Yanomami, the father of a hospitalized child. “Many of our relatives have died. Many Yanomami have died.”
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva visited the region last week. The air force on Friday opened a field hospital in Boa Vista to provide care for about 700 Yanomami, in addition to flights delivering food in the region.
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