Pandemic threatens remote peoples
In Indonesia’s easternmost province, felled trees block a road that leads to Papuan villages. On the ThaiMyanmar border, the Karen people have also made makeshift barricades, with signs warning visitors away.
Across the globe, the coronavirus pandemic has put indigenous peoples at high risk because so many have poorer health and less access to healthcare than the nonindigenous.
The United Nations says the life expectancy of indigenous people can be up to 20 years lower than of counterparts. An Australian government warning underscored the disparities. It said in March: “People over age 70, ages over 60 with preexisting conditions, or indigenous people aged over 50 should stay home whenever possible.”
The stringent recommendation for indigenous people is likely because so many have health problems that experts say can result in more serious consequences if they get the coronavirus. According to UN data, more than half of indigenous adults over 35 worldwide have Type-2 diabetes. Indigenous people also experience “disproportionately high levels” of cardiovascular disease, HIV/Aids and illnesses such as tuberculosis.
For some people, especially those with health problems and older people, the virus can cause severe illness and lead to death.
Genetics might play a part in the poorer health, said Mason Durie, a professor of Ma¯ori Studies at Massey University, himself Ma¯ori, but social factors were often more important.
Aware of the risks, many indigenous people — especially those living near or in urban centres — were seeking isolation, said Rudolph Ryser, an indigenous activist and executive director of the Centre for World Indigenous Studies.
“Many people who are able to are simply running back into the forest ... to get away from potential vectors,” he said. “They simply closed down, put up obstacles, and block the roads going into their territories.”
That has raised the fear members who don’t typically live in traditional villages could bring the disease back with them. And some communities, such as Aboriginal ones in Australia, might be ill-equipped to keep people safe because of poor infrastructure and crowding in homes.
Rukka Sombolinggi, of the Indigenous People Alliance of the Archipelago in Indonesia, warned some indigenous people “could become extinct” as a result of the virus.