Brazil: malnourished Yanomami children convalesce in a hospital in the Amazon

In a hospital in the amazon Brazilianchildren yanomami They convalesce on hammocks. The cases of malnutrition and child malaria in this indigenous ethnic group skyrocketed, prompting the government to declare a health emergency.

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In it hospital San Antonio de Boa Vista, in the state of Roraima (north), a handful of children they hang, half naked, in blue hammocks, their arms and legs emaciated. One has a bandaged hand.

There, 59 indigenous minors are cared for. Of those, 45 are yanomami and eight of them are in intensive care, according to the latest balance released this Friday by the Boa Vista mayor’s office, which manages the unit.

“Unfortunately, our children are suffering”tells AFPTV Marcelo Yanomamia native of the Oroxofi community, near the Brazilian border with Venezuela.

Her daughter, 1 year and 5 months old, has been hospitalized for 7 days with symptoms of malnutrition. She weighs just 4.9 kilos, little more than a newborn.

“Where I live, there is no food, it is lacking. There is no food. There are no bananas. There is no hunting”says Marcelo, who ponders that the malnutrition of the population yanomami it is an “old, not recent” problem.

A Yanomami indigenous woman cares for her malnourished child inside a room dedicated to the indigenous people of the Santo Antonio Children’s Hospital in Boa Vista, Roraima state, Brazil, on January 27, 2023. (Photo: MICHAEL DANTAS / AFP) (MICHAEL DANTAS /)

“We don’t have as many adults as we used to (reducing the labor available for hunting). Today everyone is too weak to work”Marcelo explains.

The vast majority arrive in San Antonio in “moderate to severe malnutrition,” complicated by infections such as pneumonia, malaria, or acute gastroenterocolitis and diarrhea, says Eugenio Patricio, a pediatrician at the hospital.

“Due to malnutrition, they have few reserves to fight infections, (…) which end up having a much more intense impact on them, even going to intensive care”Add.

Others are also hospitalized for snake bites.

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“Very intense fragility”

The hospital San Antonio is the only one who receives children up to 12 years old throughout the state -located in the northern tip of the amazon Brazilian-, in addition to patients from neighboring Guyana and Venezuela.

To get there, many of the indigenous patients are flown in from their remote jungle villages.

In the case of yanomami -generally they are eight years old or less-, they arrive at half the ideal weight for their age or even less, says Patricio. “They come with a very intense fragility.”

San Antonio admits the most serious cases, but others children and adults are cared for at the Indigenous Health House (Casai), also in Boa Vista.

Due to the crisis, from this Friday a hospital field raised by the air force Brazilian.

Several military green tents were set up in the courtyard of the indigenous health center, which is run by a federal agency. The unit serves adults and children in specialties clinicpediatrics, dentistry and nutrition, in a structure with eight modules.

In a hospital in the Brazilian Amazon, Yanomami children convalesce in hammocks. The cases of child malnutrition and malaria in this indigenous ethnic group skyrocketed, which led the government to declare a health emergency. (Photo: vMICHAEL DANTAS / AFP) (MICHAEL DANTAS /)

Last week the government of leftist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva revealed that 99 children under the age of five died in 2022 on Indigenous Land Yanomami due to malnutrition, pneumonia and malaria, among other causes.

After a visit by the authorities found numerous cases of minors of this ethnic group with severe malnutrition, malaria, respiratory infections and other complications, the government decreed a health emergency in this protected territory, the largest indigenous reserve in Brazil.

In addition, the Federal Police opened an investigation for possible “genocide” against indigenous people of the ethnic group yanomami pointing to actions and omissions of public officials during the government of the far-right Jair Bolsonaro (2019-2022).

The investigations also cover alleged environmental crimes and the diversion of public resources.

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territory under threat

Violence has grown in the territory of the yanomamia regular scene of clashes between indigenous people and illegal miners who killed residents, sexually abused women and girls, and contaminated rivers with mercury used to separate gold from sediment, according to complaints from associations and indigenous people.

The advance of illegal mining drives the proliferation of diseases, such as malaria, tuberculosis and even covid-19, according to experts.

The Federal Supreme Court (STF) announced on Wednesday that the Bolsonaro government, which defended the mining and agricultural exploitation of indigenous lands and questioned on several occasions the demarcation of the territory yanomamiviolated decisions of the highest court and provided false information about the situation of this town.

Source: Elcomercio