Yanomami women report health abandonment

In 2022, 11.530 cases of malaria were registered in the Yanomami Indigenous Special Health District. The highlight was for cases in the age group of over 50 years old, followed by those from 18 to 49 years old, and from five to 11 years old.

In a letter sent to President Lula in December 2022, Yanomami women narrated the conflicts and violence they experience within the territory demarcated for the exclusive use of the indigenous people.
“The trails of prospectors increase malaria. Before, when there weren’t so many prospectors, illnesses were few. In some regions of Yanomami territory, our children are dying of malaria, malnutrition, pneumonia and even worm infestation.”

According to the women, when they seek medical help at health centers, they are answered with complaints about the lack of medicine, which never arrived, even with the insistence of the authorities.
“We don’t want to stay crying because people die, we don’t want to stay crying until dawn. We already have a lot of ashes”, reports the document signed by the Yanomami women and mothers, which provoked President Lula visit and the arrival of emergency aid to the population indigenous.

Luiza Mello – Correspondent journalist in Brasilia