The Ministry of Health registered the occurrence of 42 deaths of indigenous people in the Yanomami land in the first two months of 2023. This number could reach 48, since six deaths are under investigation and were not accounted for in the DSEI (Special Indigenous Sanitary District) data. ) Yanomami, linked to the folder.
The main causes of death were severe malnutrition, diarrhea and pneumonia, diseases associated with hunger.
The information was forwarded by the ministry to the Sheet in response to questions from the report about data on deaths of indigenous people after the declaration, on January 20, of the state of emergency in public health in Yanomami land.
At the Hospital da Criança Santo Antônio, in the municipality of Boa Vista, four Yanomami children have died since the emergency was declared, according to the Municipal Health Secretariat. Two deaths were from severe malnutrition, one from acute diarrhea and the other from pneumonia.
The unit is the only one that cares for children in serious condition in the state, including exclusive wards for indigenous people. This Wednesday (1st), 58 Yanomami boys and girls remained hospitalized.
The government of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) initiated emergency actions due to a serious humanitarian, sanitary and health crisis involving the Yanomami. Since then, management has been hiding data on indigenous deaths in bulletins and daily announcements about emergency actions.
It is the first time that the Ministry of Health reports a number of deaths in Yanomami land in 2023.
The report asked for data on deaths in the first 19 days of the year, which precede the declaration of emergency, and in the days following the government’s action. The numbers provided do not make this distinction. Deaths continued to occur after the declaration of the emergency.
The number of 48 deaths in two months (if the six deaths still under investigation are confirmed), or 24 per month, on average, is similar to that recorded over the four years of the Jair Bolsonaro (PL) government, according to DSEI data passed on to the Condisi (District Council for Indigenous Health) of the Yanomami and Ye’kuana.
These data point to 1,181 deaths in four years, or 24.6 per month, on average. Pneumonia, malaria and severe malnutrition appear among the main causes of death.
The continuity of deaths in 2023, even with emergency actions in public health, gives a dimension of the complexity of the problem existing in the largest indigenous land in Brazil.
The Yanomamis found themselves with no alternatives for farming, hunting and fishing with the advance of more than 20,000 miners in the territory, even in previously untouched regions, closer to the border with Venezuela.
The presence of the invaders, accepted and encouraged by the Bolsonaro government, caused outbreaks of malaria and led to an increase in cases of severe malnutrition, respiratory infections and other diseases associated with hunger.
An operation was launched in February to try to remove the thousands of invaders. It is expected to last from six months to a year.
The most serious and numerous cases are concentrated in communities in the regions of Surucucu and Auaris, where care at health centers was reinforced after the declaration of a state of emergency. Patients in serious condition are transferred to hospitals in Boa Vista, in aircraft funded by the DSEI.
The Casai (Casa de Saúde Indígena), which was supposed to be a space for receiving indigenous people during medical treatments in the capital of Roraima, was improvised as a hospital. The FAB (Brazilian Air Force) set up a field hospital in the courtyard in front of Casai’s accommodation.
In the indigenous land, a date for setting up a field hospital that allows on-site care remains undefined. And, until mid-February, the government had not managed to reduce the number of indigenous people who were waiting in Casai to return to their communities. This was one of the main complaints heard by President Lula on January 21, when he was at the unit.
The Ministry of Health claims that there is a lack of doctors to certify deaths, which contributes to underreporting of records. Only eight doctors work in the health districts, according to the portfolio.
“To improve this situation, the ministry will initially send 14 doctors through the More Doctors program to reinforce care for indigenous people in the communities. The forecast is that professionals will start working in March”, he says, in a note.
Death records and data surveys are mostly done on paper sheets, depending on the folder, which delays data validation – 30 days are needed for this verification.
“The ministry, together with the COE Yanomami [Centro de Operação de Emergências, criado para atuar na crise]works to improve access to information and communication technologies for teams in the field, given the precarious state in which Sesai’s structures were found [Secretaria Especial de Saúde Indígena]caused by the abandonment of past management.”
More than one hundred health professionals have been sent to the region since the call of the National Force of the SUS as part of the emergency actions. More than 6,200 medical consultations were carried out, according to the Ministry of Health. At Casai, 78% of children with severe malnutrition gained weight and evolved to a moderate condition, says the folder.
At the HGR (Hospital Geral de Roraima), where Yanomamis are taken in serious condition, there were five deaths in 2023, according to the state government. The patients were between 30 and 81 years old. Among the circumstances of admissions were trauma, hypoglycemia and abdominal pain.
The FAB did not say whether there were deaths at the field hospital.