Protecting the Health of Indigenous Peoples from COVID-19 in the Americas

August 9, 2021

In the Region of the Americas, the indigenous population is made up of more than 62 million people, with a great diversity of languages, cultures, and traditions.

As of July 2021, 617,000 individuals belonging to indigenous peoples in the region have been infected by COVID-19 and nearly 15,000 have died from complications related to this disease since the beginning of the pandemic.

COVID-19 has exposed and exacerbated many inequalities that already existed, disproportionately affecting populations such as indigenous communities, which were already suffering from poverty, discrimination, or financial insecurity.

With the introduction of vaccines to prevent COVID-19, especially severe illness and death, a light of hope for controlling the pandemic was lit. Seventeen countries in the region have included indigenous peoples in the list of priority groups for vaccination, understanding their vulnerabilities and the community value that prevails in their territories.

Here, a series of experiences that tackle, hand in hand with communities, initiatives to bring vaccination closer to indigenous peoples, many of whom live in remote and isolated areas of Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Paraguay.

With 'sweet words' vaccination advances in the Colombian Amazon

In May 2021, Teófilo Tatayeri contracted COVID-19, a disease that, as he says, "almost put me in the hole." To avoid repeating the tragedy that put his life at risk, when he learned that they were vaccinating in Puerto Nariño, he refused to wait for the health brigade to arrive in his community. Without thinking twice, together with Yagua family and friends, from the Siete de Agosto community, he decided to embark on a two-hour river crossing on the Atacuari River to be vaccinated.

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Strengthening risk communication in Costa Rica's indigenous communities

In the Ngäbere indigenous language, Elicia Bejarano, from the Abrojo Montezuma community in the canton of Corredores, Puntarenas, Costa Rica, invites others in her community to get vaccinated: "Let's get the vaccine against COVID-19 so that (the virus) doesn't affect us severely," she asks.

Elicia was one of the leaders who participated in the dialogues and training workshops on risk communication promoted by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and the Indigenous Development Associations in eight indigenous communities in the country, in order to improve capacities to communicate about COVID-19 and vaccines at the local level, to know how to answer the main doubts on the subject, and to share informational material to be adapted or distributed in the communities.

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With a campaign led by members of indigenous peoples, Ecuador promotes vaccination against COVID-19

"Vaccination to counter COVID-19 is very good. The vaccine does not present reactions or, if it does, they are not strong, it does not cause any disease. Come and get vaccinated, this vaccine helps us a lot," says Anabel Motalvo, assistant director at the University of Otavalo, in Ecuador, in the Kichwa language.

Anabel's testimony is one of many that are part of a campaign by Ecuador's Ministry of Public Health (MSP) to promote vaccination and guarantee equal access to the vaccine against COVID-19 for indigenous peoples and nationalities, Afro-Ecuadorians and Montubios, to reduce mortality and serious morbidity due to this disease.

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Guatemala: When they speak, their communities listen

In March 2021, Guatemala began vaccination against COVID-19 prioritizing health personnel, including traditional midwives, Mayan women who are part of the group of traditional therapists recognized by the Ministry of Public Health and Social Assistance (MSPAS).

For several Mayan communities, including the Q'eqchi' culture, the service midwives provide to other women is associated with a gift, which is a call made to them through dreams or visions.

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Mayan women who are part of the group of traditional therapists

Native doctor promotes COVID-19 vaccination in Tolupan villages in Honduras

For the past two years, Dr. Ena Banegas has been working in the municipality of Yorito, located in the north-central region of Honduras. The municipality has nine villages, three of which are inhabited by the Tolupán ethnic group, of which she is a native.

The 20-to-50-minute drive from the communities to the center of the municipality, where the incidence of COVID-19 cases has been high, was "an advantage for the indigenous population that lives in the highlands and goes down little to the center," says Ena. However, since the pandemic began and to protect its population, a series of measures have been taken: closing communities and commerce, suspending events with crowds and inviting those who present symptoms to be tested for the virus.

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Community health at the center of COVID-19 vaccination in indigenous communities in Paraguay

In the Nivaclé indigenous community "La Princesa," in the Department of Boquerón, located more than 500 kilometers from Asunción, the country's capital, Bernabé Desiderio, is going to receive the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine COVID-19. "I am not afraid to get vaccinated, I will have the antibodies against this disease that has caused so much pain and death to humanity. Now you can get vaccinated and save your life," says this health promoter who will bring vaccination messages to members of his community.

To encourage vaccination and continue promoting other measures to prevent infection, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and the United Nations in the country launched a communication campaign coordinated with the National Directorate for the Health of Indigenous Peoples (DINASAPI) of the Ministry of Health and validated by the National Council for the Health of Indigenous Peoples (CONASAPI).

In this sense, the campaign messages considered the cosmovision of indigenous peoples, and placed the value of community health at the center.

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Recording of event on Health of the Indigenous People during the COVID-19 pandemic

PAHO's COVID-19 Response in the Region

Social and Environmental Determinants for Health Equity

COVID-19 Vaccines

Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19)

Immunization

Coronavirus infections

Cultural Diversity and Health