International News

BOGOTA, (APP/AFP) – Colombia’s
widespread illegal mining is blamed for causing environmental damage and holding workers in slave-like conditions — and now is also being blamed for a malaria outbreak.
Critics point to stagnant water buildups at the clandestine sites and
poor sanitary conditions at the workers’ camps for an increase in mosquitos
spreading the disease, which has quadrupled in jungle regions of the hard-hit and impoverished western department of Choco.
“The country had more or less controlled its malaria problem… the
death rate had dropped significantly,” Health Minister Alejandro Gaviria said this week.
“But because of illegal mining… we’ve had hotspots since last year
and especially this year.”
Speaking on RCN radio, Gaviria said that malaria was especially on
the rise in Choco — which stretches from the border with Panama along a stretch of Colombia’s Pacific coastline — as well as the Bajo Cauca area to the east.
The National Health Institute counted 18,524 malaria cases and about
300 cases of the disease’s more severe strain.
A year earlier, only 4,740 cases of malaria were recorded.
Outbreaks of malaria due to clandestine mining however is not new.
“Population displacement linked to the exploitation of gold mines
(and resulting deforestation) has previously created isolated epidemics of malaria” in Latin America, the Health Institute said.