Humanitarian crisis: another Yanomami child dies in Roraima

A child of only one year and five months old died, this Sunday (5), in the Yanomami Indigenous Land, in Roraima, victim of severe malnutrition and dehydration. The information was passed on by Júnior Hekurari, president of the District Council for Indigenous Health Yanomami and Ye’Kuana (Codisi-YY), one of the main leaders of the Surucucu region, in the extreme west of the state and close to the border with Venezuela. According to the report, the child had been in a serious condition since yesterday (4) and the health teams asked for his immediate removal to Boa Vista, but bad weather prevented takeoff. She was from the Haxiu region, which is about 15 minutes by helicopter from the Surucucu base, where there is an airfield and a Brazilian Army border platoon. Affected by the presence of illegal mining on their lands, the Yanomami indigenous people have suffered from cases of malnutrition and diseases such as malaria and pneumonia. In the last four years, 570 children have died in the territory. Air Base On a visit to Roraima, the Minister of Indigenous Peoples, Sonia Guajajara, said that the air base in Surucucu is going to be restructured so that it can receive larger planes. The measure will also make it possible to take the infrastructure to set up a field hospital in the region. She did not set a deadline for the implementation of these measures. The Surucucu runway does not operate using instruments and only allows visual flight, which limits access at night or in bad weather. Removal of patients According to the Emergency Operations Center (COE), an interministerial collegiate created by the federal government, in January, 223 patients were removed from the indigenous land to the state capital. In the most recent balance sheet, the COE also informed that the Casa de Saúde Indígena (Casai), in Boa Vista, currently houses 601 Yanomami, including patients and their companions. In addition, there are 50 indigenous people hospitalized at the General Hospital of Roraima (HGR) and at the Hospital da Criança Santo Antônio (HCSA), both in the capital.

Agência Brasil