Tag Archives: Water

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Author: Ella MacKinnon

Co-Authors: Kelsey Newhook, Eileen Molloy, Alina Schroeder, Justin Anderson

Peru’s Connection to Its Past From A Health Perspective

Peru has an interesting past and current relationship with public health. Infectious diseases were the main cause of the decline of the Incan Empire, the original inhabitants of Peru. Native people had no immunity to any of the diseases the Spanish invaders brought with them, and as a result were killed off in dramatic numbers. Today, the risk for infectious disease is very high in Peru, with ailments ranging from hepatitis A to malaria, Zika virus, and dengue fever (The World Factbook). The WHO reports that the average life expectancy is 74 for men and 77 for women, which is higher than the global averages. However, the country spends a mere 5.5% of its GDP on healthcare related expenses.

Traditional Peruvian Shamans

Peru’s Healthcare System Today

Since the collapse of the Peruvian healthcare sector in the 1980s and ‘90s, the country has been able to increase health services and clinics available (especially in rural areas) and decrease infant mortality and malnutrition. However, significant issues are still at hand. There are vast disparities between the level of health care available for the lower- and upper-middle classes in Peru. Lower income citizens generally are less educated and are subjected to unsafe environmental conditions, which coupled with decreased access to health services, leads to circumstances such as the surprisingly high infant mortality rate considering the country’s GDP (WHO). In one rural community in the Peruvian Amazon called Flor de Primavera, a nurse technician named Senaida Marinas has been working with the community for the past 4 years in an effort to bring healthcare to the roughly 1,100 people living there. She has been assisted by USAID‘s Quality Healthcare Program (Chemonics). This provides a possible solution to address the lack of access many remote and lower-class communities have to healthcare. 

In 2015, over 20,000 public health care workers went on strike to put pressure on the government to implement important changes that had been agreed upon the previous year. These changes included making temporary positions into permanent ones, increasing the number of health care workers employed by the government, and raising salaries (Mora 2015). Another factor to consider when looking at Peru’s overall public health situation is that 45% of the population is indigenous, and many indigenous Peruvians either utilize a combination of government and shamanic health care, or rely solely on shamans for their medical needs.

Peruvian Public Health Care Workers on Strike (Mora 2015).

Feminism and Public Health in Peru

During the regime of Alberto Fujimori, many Peruvians experienced a dark and unpromising time that has since come to be called fujimorismo. This part of Peru’s history was characterized by an authoritarian regime and reactionary policies, and it was also the time in which Peru’s government pushed forced sterilization on to many Peruvian women (Ygarza). In 2006, a group was created called the National Federation of Female Peasants, Artisans, Indigenous, Native and Salaried Workers of Peru, or FENMUCARINAP. This organization was founded with the intent of defending women’s rights in Peru, including control of the female body and empowering women politically, economically, and socially. It now is made up of roughly 126,000 members located in 19 different regions of Peru. FENMUCARINAP also continues to seek justice for the more than 300,000 women who were forcibly sterilized under Fujimori’s rule.

Lourdes Huanca Atencio, president of FENMUCARINAP (Ygarza).

Summary Factoids:

  1. What is an example of an infectious disease that Peruvians are at a high risk for contracting? Dengue fever
  2. What percentage of its GDP does Peru spend on health expenditures? 5.5%
  3. What does FENMUCARINAP stand for? the National Federation of Female Peasants, Artisans, Indigenous, Native and Salaried Workers of Peru. 

 

Works Cited

Fafard, Mark and Rob Haley. “Natural Resource Profits and the Implications for Peru’s Public Health System.” International Journal of Sociology & Social Policy, May 2014, pp. 392-400. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1108/IJSSP-07-2013-0069.

Mora, Rael. “Peru: 20,000 Public Health Care Workers Strike.” TeleSur English. N.p., 09 Sept. 2015. Web. 03 Mar. 2017.

“Peru.” World Health Organization. World Health Organization, 2017. Web. 03 Mar. 2017.

“Quality Healthcare Reaches Remote Peru.” Quality Healthcare Reaches Remote Peru | Chemonics. Chemonics International Inc., n.d. Web. 03 Mar. 2017.

“The World Factbook: PERU.” Central Intelligence Agency. Central Intelligence Agency, 12 Jan. 2017. Web. 03 Mar. 2017.

Ygarza, George. “Peru: In Defense of Land, Culture and the Female Body.” Nacla: Reporting on the Americas since 1967 03 June 2016: n. pag. Print.

 

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Author: Yura Yokoyama

Edited by: Marissa Heuser, Leah Cohen, and Joseph Geidel

Indigenous people`s environmental protests are going on and being ignited all over the world in this capitalistic era. Bolivia, which is one of the poorest and naturally richest countries in Latin America, is also confronting the contradiction between protecting indigenous environmental rights and prioritizing its rapid economic progress. It seems that this contradiction pervades many aspects of the environment such as concessions of water, mining, and forest protection. In order to explicitly capture the big picture of environmental affairs happening in Bolivia, three cased were selected as follows; Cochabamba water war, Conamaq Indigenous movement, the TIPNIS protest.

Cochabamba Water War

Cochabamba Water War Protests. (Hasfura, 2016)

The Cochabamba water war will probably be one of the famous protests by the local people. It happened in 1999 in Bolivia. The catalyst that fueled the local`s protest was Law 2029. Enacted by the government under president Banzer in 1999, this law was established to privatize water concessions in Bolivia. Various citizens, ranging from lower class to upper class, in Cochabamba joined the demonstration against the law because all of a sudden, they lost the right to manage their water. Water, that used to be public. Communities in Cochabamba had their own way of water management and distribution, so this law meant that the government disregarded their view of water as public good and indispensable communal property for their lives. Therefore, this incident is one of the most internationally well-known political events related to the exploitation of basic human rights conducted by government. The discussion about this protest is whether government can privatize publicly shared property such as water without considering the locals` needs and conventions. However, in 2009, Evo Morales banned the privatization of water on the ground that human rights include access to water. Therefore, due to his administration their situation was improved.

Conamaq Indigenous Movement

Conamaq Protestor. (Peralta, 2014)

Responding the unequal exploitation, Conamaq Indigenous movement, which has actually been active since 1997, represents the negative side of the government under Evo Morales Nilda Rojas, who is the current Conamaq leader opposed the Mining Law. She strongly claimed, “The government has created a parallel organization because we don’t support their laws which are against Mother Earth and the Constitution”(Peralta, 2014). What she meant by a parallel organization is that the government kicked the Conamaq out of its office in La Paz in order that it could establish the new organization supporting the government called pro-MAS Conamaq that supported the government`s decision and adheres to the government. This unequal political incident shows the down side of the government. When it comes to the exploitative principle of the Mining Law, being supported by MAS (Movement Toward Socialism party) this law, in fact, is the cause of this indigenous environmental movement in Conamaq. Not only does this law grant the concession of the use of public water to members of the mining industry who are conducting water-intensive and toxic operation, for immoral reason it also deprives the rural communities in Conamaq of the access to the public water on the purpose of farming (Peralta 2014). Moreover, unequally, this law has the biding power to criminalize protest against this mining operation. Recently, in 2016, Evo Morales have proclaimed the increase of the government` control over the mining sector by changing the mining law. Bolivian government has already have 39% of all mining operations. continuing low oil prices and the increasing public works investments of the Morales government may alter the government’s approach to private and foreign investment, especially in the mining sector.(Hasfura 2016).

TIPNIS

TIPNIS Protest. (Achtenburg, 2011)

Isiboro Sécure National Park and Indigenous Territory (TIPNIS) is home to more than 12,000 indigenous people; the Yuracaré people, the Trinitario-Mojeño people, and the Chimane people.  The TIPNIS conflict has marked a historic victory of those lowland indigenous groups that marched against the construction of controversial highway that would gone across indigenous territory and national park, which is one of the most ecologically diverse areas in Bolivia. The road was supposed to be made on the purpose of improving transportation and distribution in order to proper economy. However, due to the sever protest, in 2011, Morales had no choice but to assign an agreement regarding the abolishment of the construction of the highway in order that he would not lose his credibility by indigenous people. Below is a short video clip of the TIPNIS marchers:

Summary Factoid Questions:

Q: What is the name of law which prospered the privatization of the public water in Cochabamba?

A: Law 2029

Q: What is a name of law that suffers people in Conamaq from the mining sector?

A: the mining law

Q: Why did the TIPNIS protest happen?

A: It is because the government tried to construct the highway running across ecological indigenous land.

Works Cited

Achtenberg, Emily. “Road Rage and Resistance: Bolivia’s TIPNIS Conflict”(2011), nacla. Web.22,2017.

Coleman, Thomas. “Who Owns the Water? An Analysis of Water Conflicts in Latin American and Modern Water Law,” intersections 12, no. 2 (2012): 1-19. Web 22 Feb, 2017.

COHA, “On Water Scarcity and the Right to Life: Bolivia”(2013), Council on Hemispheric Affairs. Web 22 Feb, 2017.

Hasfura, Astrid, “Bolivia’s new mining laws and the future of private investment” (2016), Global Risk Insights. Web 22 Feb, 2017.

Peralta M, Pablo. “Bolivia’s Conamaq Indigenous Movement: “We will not sell ourselves to any government or political party” (2014), UPSIDE DOWN WORLD. Web. 22 Feb, 2017.