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Mongabay NewscastAuthor: Mongabay.com
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A health crisis for Peru's recently contacted people brings planetary health to the fore
Episode 308
Tuesday, 8 September, 2026
Mongabay staff writer Aimee Gabay joins the Newscast this week to discuss her reporting trip to the Peruvian Amazon, where she spoke with the Indigenous Matsés community. She made the trip initially to examine environmental threats to Matsés territory. Instead, she found them suffering from an epidemic of malaria and hepatitis B, which they have been asking the Peruvian government to help address. "The story itself was a surprise … every question directed to them about environmental changes would immediately become an issue about health," Gabay says. The current epidemic of malaria and hepatitis B they face is being exacerbated by climate change, drought, and state neglect. Prolonged dry weather allows for favorable conditions for malaria-bearing mosquitoes to breed, and at the same time cuts off the river transit that the Matsés depend on for access to health care. Community members have travelled to the nearest major city to plead with the Peruvian government, but they say they're still not receiving the proper health care that they need — sometimes dying after they reach the city, according to Matsés chief Leo Chuma Teca Beso. The Peruvian government has had guidelines for addressing health risks for Indigenous communities for nearly two decades. Still, authorities say they struggle to implement the measures outlined in them, Gabay says. "On paper, they do have the protocols. They have got plans, but it's the implementation that we're not seeing." Please take a minute to let us know what you think of our podcast here. Mike DiGirolamo is the host & producer for the Mongabay Newscast based in Sydney. Find him on LinkedIn and Bluesky. Cover image: San Mateo village, one of 29 Matsés communities in Peru, on the banks of the Gálvez River. Image by Aimee Gabay/Mongabay. Read the full story from Aimee Gabay here. ——- Time codes (00:00) Why the Matsés chose to make contact (10:04) A health crisis (16:21) "Where is the government's support?" (22:06) Risks to the Yavarí-Tapiche Corridor (30:41) Getting help to the communities (33:31) An indicator of Planetary Health
