BOA VISTA, Brazil, Jan 27 (Reuters) – Dozens of indigenous children suffering from malnutrition and acute illnesses have been hospitalized in northern Brazil, with relatives in hammocks supporting their emaciated frames in scenes that underscore the weight of a crisis of public health.
The health secretary of Boa Vista, the capital of Roraima state, said Friday that 59 indigenous children were currently in the state’s only pediatric hospital, 45 of them from the Yanomami people. Eight were in intensive care.
This compares with a total of 703 hospitalizations throughout last year, the secretary said, noting that most children were hospitalized for acute diarrhea, gastroenterocolitis, malnutrition, pneumonia and malaria.
The government of Brazil last week announced a medical emergency in Yanomami territory, the country’s largest indigenous reserve, following reports of children dying of malnutrition and other diseases caused by illegal gold mining.
Officials have called the crisis a “genocide”, blaming former President Jair Bolsonaro’s administration for neglect, with some saying the territory now looks like one “concentration camp”.
“Malnutrition is the biggest problem right now,” Boa Vista health secretary Regiane Matos told Reuters in an interview. “These people were forgotten in their communities. In recent years it has only gotten worse and what we want now are solutions.”
She said illegal mining in the region “exacerbated” the crisis, heavily polluting the territory’s essential waterways, where the Yanomamis get their water and food.
The reservation has been occupied by illegal miners for decades, but incursions multiplied after Bolsonaro won office in 2018, promising to allow mining on previously protected lands.
At the Boa Vista pediatric hospital, Reuters witnessed several indigenous children so thin that their ribs were visible.
Their parents called for help.
“Many are sick, there is no food!” said Marcelo Yanomami, the father of a hospitalized child. “Many of our relatives are dead. Many Yanomami are dead.”
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva visited the region last week. Brazil’s Air Force opened a field hospital in Boa Vista on Friday to provide care for about 700 Yanomami people, in addition to flights distributing food to the region.
Reporting by Leonardo Benassatto and Amanda Perobelli; Written by Gabriel Araujo; Editing by Brad Haynes and Sandra Maler
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