Faced with the blockages and resistance on the part of the managers of the indigenous health subsystem in accessing information, the Amazon regional of Apib decided to build a community monitoring network with the indigenous organizations and leaders who started to follow up the cases in their areas of coverage, strengthening the information network in the Amazon.

To consolidate a continuous process of participatory community monitoring on cases of contamination and death by Covid-19, Coiab started the development of an mobile application. This tool will be used by leaders and focal points, to ensure greater autonomy and speed in the registration of cases.

In addition to monitoring of cases, Coiab has been working since March, in the production of information materials in different formats and indigenous languages. Podcasts, videos, posters, pamphlets, among others, are being widely disseminated by the network of organizations linked to Coiab. All of these materials have been instrumental in the dissemination of preventive measures and actions to combat the pandemic among indigenous peoples.

We highlight the great effort made by Coiab, in this pandemic period, to articulate and make possible, together with the indigenous movement and its supporters, the purchase and delivery of health materials, food, medication and personal protective equipment (PPE) to support indigenous communities in the fight against the virus.

Until September 2020, about 80 thousand indigenous people from 30 different peoples received support with the collaboration of Coiab through the regional plan to fight the pandemic.

Indigenous peoples supported by COIAB actions: 

Tiriyó, Apurinã, Huni Kuin, Parintintin, Kuruaya, Wai Wai, Kulina, Wajãpi, Enawenê – Nawê, Ikolen, Karo, Surui Paiter, Amondawa, Oro Win, Guajajara, Krikati, Sabane, Tupari, Sakirabiat, Karitiana, Katxuyana, Apalai, Wayana, Yaminawá, Pirahã, Xipaya, Jiahui, Tenharim, Arara, Mebêngôkre Kayapó, Assurini do Xingu, Yudja, Arara da Volta Grande do Xingu, Xikrin, Araweté, Parakanã

The installation of Indigenous Primary Care Units (UAPIs) in the states of Pará, Amazonas, Acre, Roraima, Rondônia, Maranhão and Amapá can serve more than 40 indigenous lands, in the areas where 13 DSEIs in the Amazon (DSEI Amapá and Norte do Pará, DSEI Alto Purus, DSEI Porto Velho, DSEI Pará, DSEI East of Roraima, DSEI Alto Purus, DSEI Parintins, DSEI Cuiabá, DSEI Porto Velho, DSEI Medium Purus, DSEI Vale do Javari, DSEI Alto Rio Negro, DSEI Maranhão).

Investments were made in the purchase and distribution of equipment such as oxygen concentrators and cylinders, energy generators, oxygen therapy accessories, campaign PPE kits, masks, thermometers and medications. Electric inputs, stretchers, nets, medicines and food were also provided for the installation and structuring of the UAPIs.

The worsening of the pandemic in the Amazon can also be related to the increase in illegal deforestation in the region and the large number of forest fires. A context that increases conflicts and makes it impossible to isolate communities to avoid contamination by Covid-19. The fires also impact the clinical condition of people infected by Covid-19 due to the drop in air quality. Smoke can worsen symptoms of the virus in people already recovered and in the process of recovering from the disease.

In this scenario of many threats, Coiab implemented for the second consecutive year the “Emergency action plan to fight illegal burns in indigenous lands in the brazilian amazon” (pacq-coiab).

In 2019, instigated by the emergency situation of fires in Indigenous Lands, COIAB made diagnoses of the fire situation in the territories, launched a campaign and articulated support to contribute in combating the outbreaks of fires in the Indigenous Lands in the Amazon. With this, resources were mobilized for the brigades that worked with the Xerente, Krahô, Apinajé and Karajá peoples, in the state of Tocantins; to the Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau people, in the state of Rondônia; and for the guardians of the forest of the Araribóia Indigenous Land, in Maranhão and southern Amazonas.

This year, Coiab continues to support, through this plan, actions for the reduction and incidence of fires in indigenous lands, in the dry periods of the Central-South Amazon (Amazônia CS) and the Amazon of the state of Roraima (Amazônia RR).

In terms of controlling the movement of people on indigenous lands, organizations have implemented and supported sanitary barriers at critical access points to territories in order to restrict the entry and exit of indigenous and non-indigenous people.

The barriers are constituted in control stations, where volunteers take turns 24 hours a day in the surveillance and monitoring rounds of the territory. It is worth mentioning that all sanitary barriers were installed and maintained with the efforts and resources of indigenous organizations, volunteers and indigenous and indigenist partners, without any support from the federal government.

In the Amazon region, many health barriers have been installed and maintained by regional and local organizations. It is worth mentioning here the sanitary barriers, installed and in planning, in the territories aiming at the protection of isolated indigenous peoples and of recent contact in the states of Acre, Rondônia, Amazonas, Pará, and Maranhão, reaching almost 100 sanitary barriers of protection to the territories and indigenous peoples.

The difficulties in the relationship with the local Coordination of DSEIs for a better qualification of the community monitoring cases by the new coronavirus, were felt in several states of the Northeast region. The solutions to overcome these difficulties were collective, with the formation of broader networks of collaboration.

Denunciations of harassment and intimidation were made by DSEI officials, in order to make it difficult for community leaders to be informed on Covid-19 cases. Over the months, organizations and leaders, who are focal points of Apoinme in community monitoring, have stopped reporting new cases, as they were no longer able to access information with indigenous health agencies. The difficulty in accessing information has significantly compromised the flow of follow-up on the evolution of the virus in the Northeast region.

Apoinme supported more than 40,000 indigenous people with basic food baskets, personal protective equipment, health materials and materials to strengthen family farming. Communities from all APOINME microregions received thermometers, oximeters and face shields, aiming to protect those responsible for acting and maintaining the approximately 40 sanitary barriers installed at the entrance to indigenous territories as a way to monitor the traffic of people and promote counting of Covid-19 cases in the villages, as well as food that contributed to the maintenance of the work on the barriers.

Bleach, soap bars, washing powder detergents, alcohol gel, garbage bags, cloths, sponges, were some of the items distributed to contribute to the cleaning and disinfection of environments in indigenous communities of Alagoas, Bahia, Rio Grande do Norte, Pernambuco, and Piauí.

Masks and gloves made available to the indigenous population in the West and extreme South of Bahia, contributed to prevent the spread of the virus in the territories. In Ceará, Paraíba and some places in Bahia, priority food distribution demands were met. In addition, we contributed to Covid-19 testing in diverse communities in the states of Espírito Santo and Minas Gerais.

Equipment, supplies and materials were also made available to promote communication and dissemination of information and useful guidelines in the fight against the pandemic.

Sanitary barriers were built and widely supported. With the strength of the mobilizations of indigenous organizations, it was possible to subsidize social isolation and the permanence of indigenous people in many territories. Apoinme has been working to guarantee food security on an emergency basis by delivering basic food baskets and developing projects that strengthen family farming.

Even with this scenario, Aty Guasu carries out actions to support more than 51 thousand Guarani and Kaiowa indigenous people in more than 45 indigenous lands, located in Mato Grosso do Sul. Until September, the regional organization managed to support more than 20 indigenous lands directly from the distribution of health materials, personal protective equipment and basic food baskets. To support sanitary barriers and identify indigenous volunteers who work at the barriers, lab coats, gloves, thermometers, masks and alcohol gel were purchased and distributed.

In view of the advancement of COVID-19, in Mato Grosso do Sul and in the Guarani and Kaiowa villages, the leaders of Aty Guasu began to support and set up indigenous sanitary barriers at the entrance of all the Guarani and Kaiowa villages with the objective of preventing the entrance of COVID-19 in the communities.

Today there are more than 50 Guarani and Kaiowá sanitary barriers in operation. Each barrier has an indigenous volunteer team, composed of 15 people who take turns in 3 shifts (in the morning, afternoon and night).

Indigenous sanitary barriers did not receive support from municipal agencies, the State of Mato Grosso do Sul or the Federal Government. For this reason, all points have structural weaknesses and must be permanently equipped with secure tents, adequate protective equipment and PPE.

Community efforts kept the virus out until mid-June. The first case of death of the Terena people happened on July 14, and from then on the cases spread throughout the territory. Neither SESAI nor any other Federal Government agency supported or instructed the Council on how to prevent the spread of the virus, did not provide structures for isolating sick people, nor did it provide information on isolation and care protocols.

Faced with the sanitary collapse and the lack of care, the Terena Council called on the international humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders (MSF) as a strategy to face the pandemic in their territories. Health professionals’ access to Terena territory was initially prevented by the Ministry of Health, and specifically by SESAI, arguing that interference in the national territory should be decided on the Federal scale.

The Terena Council, however, went to court claiming that SESAI was unable to meet the entire demand, given that the region of the municipality of Aquidauana, for example, was attended only by a single doctor, who was on vacation, since the beginning of the pandemic.

At least 6 relatives who died from Covid-19 were already counted when MSF was contacted on 24 July. In less than a month, deaths increased by 580%, with 41 deaths by 19 August. Even with these alarming data, Sesai continued to deny the support of the medical organization.

The Council installed and maintains about 29 sanitary barriers, 25 of these in the context of a village and 4 in urban areas. The barriers are capable of protecting 57 communities in 6 different Indigenous Lands, covering the municipalities of Dois Irmãos do Buriti, Miranda, Nioque and Sidrolândia. The responsibility for the installation and operation of the barriers is shared between the communities and the Council, and it is the responsibility of the communities to set up the rotation scheme among the indigenous volunteers at the barriers for the patrol and watch periods.

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The front has monitored the health situation and created strategies to approach indigenous leaders to build communication channels and thus consolidate information flows.

The relationship with the DSEIs to pass on the cases of contamination and death by Covid-19 has been interrupted over the last eight months, since at the beginning of the pandemic there was a dialogue, but it was closed over time by guidance from the Sesai.

The articulation for the acquisition and distribution of basic food baskets, hygiene and cleaning materials, personal protective equipment, mattresses, blankets and support for communities that live on handicrafts, characterizes the actions of ArpinSul that are being carried out together with the groups that make up the Front.

CGY also monitors the cases of COVID-19 in the Guarani villages in the south and southeast of the country, elaborates protocols and action strategies together with the local leaders, carries out the survey of demands with the leaders and DSEIs, as well as maintains articulation and focus on actions with Federal Public Defender’s Office, Federal Public Ministry, State Public Ministry and local city halls to guarantee access rights to public health for indigenous peoples.

The CGY advisory team dedicated itself to writing emergency projects aimed at the purchase and distribution of basic food baskets, hygiene items, food safety equipment and resources to face the pandemic. The support was mainly aimed at acquiring seedlings, seeds, tools and agricultural inputs to enhance farming practices.

The commission maintains fundraising campaigns for the purchase of food, personal hygiene and cleaning products and PPE, in addition to promoting agricultural practices, construction of prayer houses and support for local village mobilizations and virtual meetings. In addition to its own collection, still within the scope of food security, the legal advisory team has worked together with the Federal Public Ministry from different regions to guarantee the continuity of the right to food, for example, in the continuity of school lunches in the villages, and guarantee of the food baskets delivery service by FUNAI, even in non-demarcated lands.

Supporting indigenous communities is important not only because of the pandemic, but also because this time of the year is a sacred time, of renewal and mobility for the Guarani people who perform the ritual of healing the land Guata Porã, which means beautiful walking in the positive direction of healing.

During Guata Porã, cosmologically, visits to villages are made to exchange seeds and perform the ritual that promotes reforestation and planting of seedlings, native seeds and fruit trees, ensuring health and healthy food for humans, animals, birds, and thus bringing balance on the planet. It is through Guata Porã that the Mbya people guarantee their food sovereignty, healing for all beings on earth, the consecration and protection of the body, the strengthening of mother earth, the baptism of children who receive their protective spirit, the strengthening of the tongue through our songs and dances, and the protection of water movements.

Faced with such a crucial moment for the Guarani tradition and for the world in facing the pandemic, the Mbya needs to make the journey, through the ritual, so as not to let death reach the land, while the protocols demand social isolation for protection of peoples. In this sense, after an analysis carried out by the CGY team, we sought to understand how to protect the people from Covid-19, and also to protect the land through the ritual of the Guarani people.

In this sense, we reinforce the importance of CGY’s work in seeking support for the Guarani people to continue their mobility with seeds and seedlings, tools and reforms and the construction of Opy (house of prayer). And ensure that Guata Porã is held, following all WHO protocols, and monitoring the ritual to ensure everyone’s safety. The ritual will be recorded and released at this time of healing the earth.

The actions aim to support families in facing the pandemic, through the acquisition and distribution of basic food baskets, hygiene kits and PPE, as well as promoting food sovereignty projects. The regional has also built its coping plan, which aims to structure health centers with medical equipment and supplies, in addition to carrying out Covid-19 tests.

Reforestation and environmental recovery actions are also included in the regional planning, also supporting the development of value chains for indigenous products in order to promote the autonomy of indigenous peoples in their income generation.