Tens of Indigenous Children in The North of Brazil are in Hospitals Due to Malnutrition

Regiane Matos, the health secretary of Boa Vista, the capital of the Brazilian state of Roraima, stated today that of the 59 children who are in hospitals due to malnutrition, 45 are from the Yanomami people.

Dozens of indigenous children suffering from malnutrition and acute illnesses have been hospitalized in northern Brazil, the British newspaper Guardian reported.

Matos said that of the 45 children from the Yanomami people, eight were in intensive care.

The data is alarming since a total of 703 children were hospitalized during the previous year, she noted, noting that most of the children were in hospitals due to acute diarrhea, gastroenterocolitis, malnutrition, pneumonia and malaria.

The Brazilian government last week declared a state of emergency in the Yanomami territory, the largest indigenous reserve in the country, following reports that children were dying from malnutrition and other illnesses caused by illegal gold mining.

Officials have called the crisis a “genocide,” blaming the administration of former President Jair Bolsonaro for neglect, and some say the reserve now looks like a “concentration camp”.

“Malnutrition is currently the biggest problem,” the health secretary of Boa Vista said in an interview with the British agency.

According to her, these people are forgotten in their communities.

“In recent years (the situation) has only gotten worse, and what we want now are solutions,” Matos stated to Tanjug.