Amazon indigenous people provided with booklet on STD prevention

A collaboration of UNESCO/UNAIDS and Brazil's Ministry of Health and National Foundation for Indigenous People (FUNAI) will provide the Kanamari indigenous people with educational booklets with guidelines for prevention, diagnosis and treatment of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), HIV/AIDS and viral hepatitis, abuse of alcohol and other drugs. The booklet will be launched today (Aug. 18) in Atalaia do Norte, Amazonas state, in the area surrounding Brazil's triple border with Colombia and Peru, home to the Kanamari people.

Aimed at children and teenagers, the publication will be used in schools and health services. The text was drafted by the indigenous community and translated into Portuguese. It recommends community members not to drink or bring alcohol to the village, to respect and protect themselves, not to have sex while drinking ramih (a traditional indigenous beverage), and not to allow foreigners (whether Peruvian or Brazilian) or other strangers into the villages. 

According to Mariana Braga, UNESCO Educational Projects Officer for Brazil, work on the booklet took a year to complete, and was based on conversations with the Kanamari so that it would reflect insight from their own culture in dealing with the topic. “That's what makes this booklet different from all other educational resources made for indigenous peoples – it is their own creation.”

The title Falando sobre Prevenção às DST/Aids e Hepatites Virais – Kanamari (Talking about STD/HIV/AIDS and Viral Hepatitis Prevention: Kanamari) is the fourth of the Preventive Education Series for STD/HIV/AIDS and Viral Hepatitis among Indigenous Peoples of the Javari Valley. The other three volumes were focused on the Matis, Mayoruna (Matsés) and Marubo people who live in the same region.

The collection was developed based on information gathered at prevention workshops the Javari river valley with contributions from anthropologists, teachers, indigenous healthcare workers, pajés (shamans), healers, midwives and leaders of different communities in the region.

UNESCO worked with the Ministry of Health to list the ten indigenous communities most vulnerable to HIV, hepatitis, and alcohol abuse to plan the booklet series. Not all of the listed communities live in the Amazon. “We have completed the list and are now seeking funding, resources and partners to support us in this initiative,” Mariana Braga concluded.

Translated by Mayra Borges