Drought and state neglect deepen health crisis for Peru’s recently contacted Matsés
A worsening convergence of drought driven by climate change, epidemic disease, and state neglect is creating a severe health emergency for the Indigenous Matsés people in the Peruvian Amazon. Mongabay staff writer Aimee Gabay traveled to Matsés territory to investigate the environmental threats to the region. Instead, she found Matsés communities suffering from severe outbreaks […]
A severe health crisis is gripping the Indigenous Matsés people in Peru's Amazon region, exacerbated by drought, epidemic disease, and state neglect. Mongabay reporter Aimee Gabay visited the Matsés territory to uncover the environmental threats facing the community, only to find them struggling with severe malaria and hepatitis B outbreaks.
Gabay explains that upon arrival, she repeatedly asked about environmental threats, only to be told that people were dying on the streets. The Matsés officially initiated contact with evangelical missionaries in 1969 to escape violence from rubber tappers, loggers, and military bombardments. However, this contact exposed them to infectious diseases, as Matsés elder Roberto Necca Tumio Unan recounted that entire families began dying shortly after contact from diseases they had never encountered before.
Gabay notes that the Matsés lack the immunological defenses to fight these diseases, as they are constantly exposed to them. Now, the health crisis is compounded by droughts in the Amazon, as low river levels restrict boat navigation, the primary mode of transit in this roadless region. This impedes healthcare workers' ability to reach remote villages, and prevents sick villagers from accessing medical care. Matsés chief Leo Chuma Teca Beso told Gabay that he had traveled to the village...
Written by urgent.news from Mongabay's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
