Disease, mining decimate Brazil's Yanomami people

(27 Jan 2023)
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Boa Vista, Brazil - 26-January-2023
++CLIENTS PLEASE NOTE EDIT CONTAINS IMAGES OF SEVERELY MALNOURISHED CHILDREN++
1. Various Indigenous baby in an improvised hammock on a hospital bed in Santo Antonio Children’s Hospital

HEADLINE: Disease, mining decimate Brazil's Yanomami people
Location: Boa Vista, Brazil
 
2. Various of Indigenous girl in state of malnourishment on the lap of her father
 
ANNOTATION: A public health emergency has been declared in Brazil as severe malnutrition and disease kills the Amazon's Yanomami population.
 
ANNOTATION: Mining in the region has also destroyed the habitat of animals that the Yanomani hunt, and occupies fertile land that is used to farm.

3. Indigenous woman with her daughter on a hammock in a hospital corridor
4. Indigenous father and daughter, in state of malnourishment, and child on hammocks


ASSOCIATED PRESS
Boa Vista, Brazil - 25-January-2023
5. Truck with hospital related furniture entering at the Indigenous Health Center (CASAI – Casa de Saúde Indigena)
6. Various of Air Force personnel unpacking crates in front of makeshift tents
7. SOUNDBITE (Portuguese) Junior Hekurari Yanomami, President of Indigenous Health District Council:
++SOUNDBITE PARTIALLY COVERED++  
"We have been for four years without health assistance in the communities. 120 communities are fighting for life. More than 20 thousand gold miners in the Yanomami Indigenous land, with guns, are intimidating communities. Communities are living with fear.”

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Yanomami Indigenous Territory, Roraima state, Brazil - 25-January-2023
8. Various aerial view from the aircraft of small Yanomami village in the Amazon Rainforest
9. Various of supplies dropping from the back of the aircraft and opening a parachute

ANNOTATION: The health emergency has forced the air force to fly food kits and supplies into Yanomami territory. 

10. View from inside the aircraft of a military airstrip and base inside the Yanomami land used as central distribution and evacuation point
11. Amazon forest seen from inside the aircraft

ANNOTATION: An estimated 30,000 Yanomami people live in Brazil's largest Indigenous territory, an area roughly the size of Portugal.
 
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Boa Vista, Brazil - 26-January-2023
12. Various of Indigenous mothers holding their babies in a hospital corridor
14. SOUNDBITE (Portuguese) Regiane Matos, Health Secretary of Boa Vista:
++SOUNDBITE PARTIALLY COVERED++
"We noticed that during the week the number of (Indigenous) children (hospitalized) has been increasing, I believe because of the assistance that is now happening in the area. These cases are being identified and are able to come quicker to medical assistance."

15. Indigenous mothers with children walking inside the Indigenous Health Center (CASAI – Casa de Saúde Indigena) with Brazilian Air Force makeshift tents and personnel in the background
16. Indigenous men eating inside the CASAI
STORYLINE:
Severe malnutrition and disease, particularly malaria, are decimating the Yanomami population in Brazil's Amazon rainforest.

On January 20 the federal government declared a public health emergency.

The health of the Indigenous population has declined over the course of several years due to mining in the area that occupies fertile land, poisons rivers and destroys water sources.

They destroy the habitat of animals that the Yanomami hunt, and occupy fertile land that the Yanomami use to farm.

The miners also process ore with mercury that poisons the rivers that the Yanomami depend upon for fish.















Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_Archive
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/APArchives ​​
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/APNews/


You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/80bcd551188143d390729f53bbdd67e0