Towards Understanding the Health Vulnerability of Indigenous Peoples Living in Voluntary Isolation in the Amazon Rainforest: Experiences from the Kugapakori Nahua Reserve, Peru

Abstract

The remote headwater areas of the Amazon rainforest are home to many Indigenous groups who prefer not to encounter and establish relationships with outsiders. These people have not been exposed to many everyday, infectious, Old World diseases and are therefore particularly susceptible to them, with extremely high morbidity and mortality rates. Recent Peruvian governments have encouraged the large-scale exploitation of timber, gas, and petrol in the Amazon. These economic interests have greatly increased pressure on previously remote areas, many of which are home to Indigenous peoples in voluntary isolation. The Nahua and Nanti established direct relations with outsiders in the last 20 years and have experienced major changes in health status, social disruption, and bereavement as a consequence. The description of some of their epidemics highlights these populations’ vulnerability to introduced diseases. Understood as the result of both “internal” and “external” factors, this vulnerability is a combination of their high susceptibility and of social changes resulting from increased resource pressure on their lands. The experiences of the peoples in the Kugapakori Nahua Reserve demonstrate the effects that resource extraction activities (both surface and subsoil) can have on local populations, not only when conducted in their lands (as in the case of the Nahua) but also when they take place downstream of their territories (as in the case of the Nanti). Because their susceptibility cannot be significantly altered immediately or without affecting their rights, the responsibility lies with local and national governments to limit exploitation on their lands. Not to do so constitutes a violation of isolated peoples’ rights to life and health.