In recent months, Indigenous organizations have repeatedly raised the alarm about the whooping cough outbreak that is severely impacting children in the Datem del Marañón, Loreto. In response, AIDESEP, CORPI-SL, and FENAP have submitted a joint letter to the Congressional Commission on Andean, Amazonian and Afro-Peruvian Peoples, Environment and Ecology. The letter calls for urgent oversight of the health response led by the Ministry of Health (MINSA) and the Regional Health Directorate (GERESA), and demands the official declaration of a health emergency in the area.
The document highlights serious shortcomings in the management of this epidemic and the repeated inconsistencies in official reports. Authorities claim that the outbreak is under control, yet they fail to acknowledge the underreporting of more than 30 child deaths, in addition to the 38 already recorded. Hundreds of children continue to suffer the consequences of delayed and insufficient action.
As the Amazon Sacred Headwaters Alliance, we stand in solidarity with this urgent demand for comprehensive health care in the Datem del Marañón. While GERESA has deployed brigades, a single intervention cannot address the real needs of the population. Today it is whooping cough, but in the coming months, as water levels drop, diseases such as malaria, dengue, and leptospirosis will surge again, as they do every year.
Indigenous peoples and nations of the Amazon are citizens with the same right to health and education as any other in Peru. We call on the Peruvian State to guarantee equal access to health care and to act without delay to protect lives and uphold its human rights obligations.
Access the full letter here: https://aidesep.org.pe/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Solicitud-de-audiencia-de-fiscalizacion-a-la-Comision-de-Pueblos-del-COngreso-24.09.25-2.pdf