Relação saúde e condições socioambientais entre os Munduruku da terra indígena Coatá-Laranjal, Amazonas - Brasil

Abstract

The Munduruku suffered throughout their history, several social, cultural and environmental transformations that brought consequences to their health. This study objected to understand the perceptions of the Munduruku people from Coatá-Laranjal Indigenous Land about the health relation and socioenvironmental condition, trying to identify the impacts of socioenvironmental problems in the health/disease process and enunciating forms of fight due to the cited problems. The research was conducted on Coatá-Laranjal Indigenous Land (Canumã and Mari-Mari River), located in Borba Indigenous Special Sanitary District, State of Amazonas. In this study we adopted the ethnographic method and the kind of research was based in a qualitative analyze, added to quantitative data. The techniques of data collecting used included: surveys, participant observation, semi-structured interviews, discussions with focal groups and oral relates. The history of fight for the territory, culminating with the demarcation of this Indigenous Land (2001) are emphasized questions by the Munduruku people, for the territory is to the them a space of identity construction, social relations and motive to war and conflicts. Analyzing the Munduruku people perceptions, we verified that they have a clear vision about the health-environmental relation, showing concerns with the environmental preserving and around it, as well with the future generation sustainability. The main environmental problems noticed by them were: burning; hunting, fishing and fruit collect decreasing; presence of fishing boats in the area, water quality and access, and trash increasing. The Munduruku people also noticed changes in the way of life (trade relations and payroll employment) and in the diet feeding, consequences of contact intensification that contributed to add new diseases in the indigenous land as hypertension and diabetes mellitus. Diseases such as worms, diarrhea, skin problems (itchy) are related to problems such as dirty water, lack of water well and trash increasing in the village. Malaria and diarrhea are related to the water cycle variation, mainly in the beginning of rise and fall of rivers. Respiratory problems are related to burning and deforestation. The research showed changes in the health profile of Munduruku people, with new diseases occurring and re-emerging ones resulted of socioenvironmental and ways of life alterations. It showed also the occurring of traditional diseases noticed by them as results of supernatural powers, cultural and feeding transgressions and the use of healing traditional practices. The social representations about the health/disease process are being recreated among the Munduruku people, according to their experiences, adding new occidental medicine knowledge