The Federal Public Defender’s Office (DPU) and the Federal Prosecutor’s Office (MPF) in Mato Grosso asked for emergency actions to contain the sanitary crisis faced by the Marãiwatsedé Indigenous Land people, where 11, including four children, died between January and May this year.
In the letter, the organs denounce possible omission or insufficiency in the provision of services of the indigenous population and claim that deaths were possible to be avoided “due to repeated allegations of deaths from presumably preventable causes, such as malnutrition, anemia, unlocked appendicitis, lack of transport and absence of medicines.”
Complaints from indigenous people to the Ministry of Health on the situation in the territory were. The document signed by DPU and MPF states that there are currently 50 children, from six months to four years, at risk of malnutrition in Marãiwatsédé. According to, there are 1,160 indigenous people in the territory.
The letter points to several irregularities in the operation of the DSEI (Special Indigenous Sanitary District) Xavante, such as the absence of nurses, illegal exercise of the profession, inadequate facilities and expired or inoperative equipment.
“There is a unanimous perception, expressed by different instances of social control and public management, that the problem is structural and resulting from the absence of technical management and integrated planning, aggravated by the scarcity of human resources, precarious infrastructure, the absence of basic sanitation and fragility of interinstitutional support and response networks,” says the document.
Also according to the IBGE, only 46.16% of the indigenous population in Marãiwatsédé land has access to drinking water distribution. There is no data on garbage collection services or connection to the sewage system in the region.
The letter, addressed to the Indigenous Health Secretariat, recommends the implementation of a multidisciplinary task force in the territory for at least 90 days, in addition to the constitution of a crisis committee with biweekly meetings and participation of representatives of the Ministry of Health, DSEI, and also indigenous leaders.
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