STATE OF THE WORLD's INDIGENOUs PEOpLEs - CINU

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EMBARGOED UNTIL 14 January 2010STATE OF THE WORLD’S INDIGENOUS PEOPLESNot for distributionForming reciprocal information and collaboration networks between organizations and institutions.Source: PAHO/WHO Resolution V “The Health of Indigenous Peoples”, adopted at the Fourth Plenary session, 28September 1993.In addition, WHO, along with the specialized agencies of the United Nation system and international developmentinstitutions such as the World Bank, has begun to recognize that “when we marginalize indigenous peoples,we cut off a vast body of knowledge that is of great value to humanity.” 20 This has spawned a number ofefforts to support the preservation of indigenous knowledge with respect to traditional medicine and healingpractices. Programmes such as UNESCO’s Local and Indigenous Knowledge Systems Programme may not havean explicit health focus but, by focusing on sustainable development and resource management, they work onpreserving and promoting the use of traditional knowledge, which is integral to indigenous health systems. In1997, WHO established a programme on traditional medicine with the objective of interesting governments ofmember countries and other health institutions in supporting traditional health agents, and has since focused onsupporting the development of national policies related to the practice of traditional medicine, advocating for therational use of traditional medicine based on international standards, and developing technical standards andmethodologies for research into traditional medicine therapies and products. 21Based on reports on the health of indigenous peoples and to follow up from the work initiated through ResolutionV, PAHO approved Resolution VI, calling on member States to intensify their efforts to identify and eliminatethe inequities in the health status of indigenous peoples. One of their strategic goals is to create an inventoryof the region’s best practices in incorporating indigenous perspectives and practices into health systems. 22Various regional initiatives have followed, including the support of the United Nations Population Fund (UNPFA)for summits and associations of indigenous women that address health in Latin America and the Caribbean 23and efforts by both UNIFEM and the United Nations Inter-Agency Support Group on Indigenous Peoples’ Issuesto convene indigenous women to discuss how to incorporate the demands of indigenous women into UnitedNations initiatives related to the MDGs.The current health situation of indigenous peoplesIndigenous peoples suffer from poorer health, are more likely to experience disability and reduced qualityof life and ultimately die younger than their non-indigenous counterparts. PAHO has stated that “the presentepidemiological profile of the indigenous population is associated with high poverty indices, unemployment,illiteracy, migration, exclusion from the mainstream society, lack of land and territory, destruction of theecosystem, alteration of the dynamic of life, and unmet basic needs”. 24 Circumstances of extreme povertyare significantly more prevalent among indigenous peoples than non-indigenous groups, and are rooted inother factors, such as a lack of access to education and social services, destruction of indigenous economiesand socio-political structures, forced displacement, armed conflict and the degradation of their customarylands and waters. These forces, which are inherited from colonization, are all determined and compounded20WHO (1999), Statement by WHO Director-General, Gro Harlem Brundtland.21WHO (2002), 5.22See PAHO (2006).23See UNFPA (2006) and Box on page 180, this chapter. UNFPA also makes efforts to consider gender mainstreaming and culturalsensitivity in all of its initiatives. See http://www.unfpa.org/culture/rights.htm and http://www.unfpa.org/gender/index.htm24PAHO (2003).HEALTH | 161
EMBARGOED UNTIL 14 January 2010STATE OF THE WORLD’S INDIGENOUS PEOPLESNot for distributionby structural racism and discrimination, and make indigenous women andchildren particularly vulnerable to poor health.indigenous peoples sufferfrom poorer health, aremore likely to experiencedisability and reducedquality of life andultimately die youngerthan their non-indigenouscounterpartsThe impact of these phenomena is that indigenous peoples experiencedisproportionately high levels of maternal and infant mortality, malnutrition,cardiovascular illnesses, HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases such as malariaand tuberculosis. Indigenous women experience these health problems withparticular severity, as they are disproportionately affected by natural disastersand armed conflicts, and are often denied access to education, land, property andother economic resources. Yet they play a primary role in overseeing the healthand well-being of their families and communities. In addition, as the incidenceof other public health issues such as drug abuse, alcoholism, depression andsuicide increases, urgent and concerted efforts are needed to improve thehealth situation of indigenous peoples. 25Health disparities from an epidemiological perspectiveAll around the world, there are health disparities between indigenous and nonindigenouspopulations in the incidence of virtually every health condition, frominfectious diseases such as HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis to cardiovasculardisease, diabetes, cancer and respiratory diseases. Moreover, many of the mostwidespread causes of mortality among indigenous children are preventable, suchas malnutrition, diarrhoea, parasitic infections and tuberculosis. Box V.3 givesan example of the health disparities between indigenous and non-indigenouspopulations in Venezuela.The health situation in Amazonas state, VenezuelaAlthough Venezuela is a middle-income country, health indicators inAmazonas state, which is home to twenty distinct indigenous peoples,are significantly lower than in the rest of the country. Living in areas shortof infrastructure, indigenous peoples are disproportionately affected bymalnutrition and infectious diseases. Consequently, the infant mortalityrate in Amazonas state is 43.9 per 1,000 births, compared to the nationalaverage of 19 per 1,000 births, and between 76 and 250 per 1,000 birthsin the Yanomami population. In 2001, the rates of diarrhoea-relateddiseases, pneumonia and tuberculosis in Amazonas state were doublethe national rates. In 2004, the malaria incidence was 70 times higher thanthe national average, standing at 87.7 cases per 1,000, compared to 1.2per 1,000, making malaria the main cause of morbidity and the seventhcause of infant mortality. The indigenous municipalities of Atabapo,Autana and Manapiare were the most affected, with the highest malariarates in Venezuela.Source: The Indigenous World 2004 (2004), 137-138.25PAHO (2006), 3.162 | CHAPTER V
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