Experiencing Covid-19 in the Ecuadorian Amazon rainforest (4-1-21)

Experiencing Covid-19 in the Ecuadorian Amazon rainforest

Natalia Buitron, Greg Deshoullière, and Maka Suarez (Kaleidos Collective) / Interactions

4-1-21

What is it like to experience Covid-19 in the Ecuadorian Amazon rainforest? We found out by speaking with a community of the Shuar, Indigenous people of Ecuador and Peru. Our conversations gave us a sense of the distance that exists between healthcare provided by the Ecuadorian state and caring for health within the Shuar community. In April 2020, a friend and leader of a Shuar community reached out to several colleagues to denounce the racist response to the pandemic in their communities from the Ecuadorian Ministry of Health. In their community alone, there were more than 15 people with symptoms similar in every way to Covid-19. Yet the staff from the Ministry of Health insisted there were no cases.

Read more: https://interactions.acm.org/enter/view/experiencing-covid-19-in-the-ecuadorian-amazon-rainforest