Brazil declares public health emergency for Yanomami people

The Brazilian government has declared a public health emergency for the Yanomami people of the Amazon who suffer from malnutrition and diseases such as malaria, as a result of illegal mining.

The decree, signed by Health Minister Nisia Trindade late Friday, has no expiration date and allows the hiring of additional personnel. It stipulates that the responsible team must publish a report on the general health and well-being of Indigenous groups.

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva also created a multi-ministerial committee, which will be coordinated by the chief of staff, for an initial period of 90 days. He traveled to the state capital of Roraima, Boa Vista, where many sick Yanomami have been treated in a special hospital.

The Yanomami are the largest indigenous group in Brazil, with a population of around 30,000. They live in an area larger than nine million hectares (22 million acres), in the northern part of the Amazon rainforest, near the border with Venezuela.

50% of malaria cases in Brazil

In recent years, specialists have sounded the alarm about the humanitarian and sanitation crisis. The report “Yanomami Under Attack,” written by the non-profit Socio-Environmental Institute, shows that by 2021 the region will be responsible for 50 percent of malaria cases in the country. The same report said that more than 3,000 children are malnourished.

“The problem of illegal mining is not new in the YIT (Yanomami Indigenous Territory in the states of Amazonas and Roraima). However, the scale and intensity have improved in the last five years,” the report said.

Illegal mining is the main root of the problems facing the Yanomami people. Activists accuse the miners of death threats, sexual violence and alcohol and drug abuse, especially against Indigenous children.

The same report indicated that the area has more than 40 illegal airstrips created by the miners and that they have taken over several government health centers installed in the area.

The nonprofit’s report detailed armed miners in the area and said it had led to “the total abandonment of health posts in some cases … and even the occupation of community airfields.”

“It is also common to hear complaints about misappropriation of medicines reserved for Indigenous Peoples for use by miners,” he said.

Earlier this week, the Ministry of Health has appointed a team for a special health mission in the Yanomami region. Lula planned an emergency trip to Roraima state after a report by the independent local news website Sumauma, which featured images of malnourished children.

According to the report, during the last four years of the government of former President Jair Bolsonaro, the death of children aged five or less increased by 29 percent compared to the previous government. The same report shows that 570 Yanomami children died between 2019 and 2022 due to treatable diseases.

Lula tweeted that the government received information about the “absurd situation” of malnutrition among Yanomami children. The President will be accompanied by several ministers in Boa Vista.