A specific diagnosis of health gaps and ways to facilitate access to prevention and health services for populations affected by the COVID-19 pandemic are needed: this was WHO’s positions at a meeting with indigenous leaders from Amazonian peoples and experts from numerous international agencies.
PAHO promotes collaboration between ministries of health, indigenous organizations, and other organizations that are responding to the pandemic, to develop roadmaps for the response. Reliable data on COVID-19 cases and other diseases affecting those populations are needed, along with ensuring the implementation of public health measures.
In a virtual dialogue with leaders of indigenous organizations from Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela, as well as other national and international organizations, PAHO experts discussed access to health for vulnerable populations in the context of the current pandemic.
The meeting gave visibility to the situation of Amazonian indigenous peoples and presented the WHO/PAHO actions in the Amazon subregion in collaboration with the countries and indigenous organizations from the area. The meeting set a roadmap for a coalition to provide the necessary support in the response to COVID-19 among the populations of the Amazon.
Gregorio Mirabal, General Coordinator of the Coordinator of the Indigenous Organizations of the Amazon Basin (COICA) group, emphasized the importance of ensuring the participation of indigenous peoples in the work of governments to respond to the pandemic. In the Amazon, the daily increase in cases and deaths from COVID-19 has been a severe blow to indigenous peoples and nationalities, experts agreed. The difficulty in accessing health of Amazonian peoples requires a coordinated response from States, indigenous organizations, United Nations system agencies and other partners in international cooperation.
COICA and WHO/PAHO call for strengthened health care services in the Amazon through the provision of human resources, supplies and medical devices.
The meeting was attended by experts from the sub-regional Andean Health Agency (ORAS CONHU), the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization (OTCA), the Fiocruz Foundation, OCHA, the Sustainable Development Solutions Network, the Inter-American Development Bank, AECID, European Union ECHO and other international partners.