Since 2019, the situation of the more than 30 thousand people living in the Yanomami indigenous territory, the largest indigenous reserve in the country, which is located in the states of Amazonas and Roraima, has been dramatic and was considered a Public Health Emergency of National Importance. Teams from the Ministry of Health went to the region in January 2023 and came across children and elderly people in serious condition, with severe malnutrition, neurological injuries and fertility problems.
There are also many cases of malaria and acute respiratory infections. According to the Indigenous Health Care Information System, between 2019 and 2022 alone, 538 deaths were recorded in children under 5 years of age in the Yanomami DSEI territory, 495 of which could have been avoided.
This situation is a consequence of the presence of mining in indigenous communities, affecting the environment, generating food insecurity and bringing a series of diseases, most of them linked to contamination by mercury, a heavy metal widely used by miners in the gold separation process.
Is the health crisis for the Yanomami people expected to end? What needs to be done to face this problem? In today’s episode, we spoke with the doctor and researcher at Fiocruz, Paulo César Basta, who has been studying the health of the Yanomami for 25 years.
