Overview

• Ex–health ministers issued a joint pronouncement asking the government to immediately declare a sanitary emergency in Datem del Marañón due to a severe pertussis outbreak.
• Coverage cites more than 30 child deaths in Indigenous communities in Loreto, while the health ministry’s surveillance office lists 28 pertussis deaths nationwide and local leaders warn of underreporting.
• Loreto accounts for 1,818 of 2,395 pertussis cases reported this year, with Datem del Marañón showing the highest incidence and heavy impact on Achuar, Kandozi and Shawi peoples.
• The proposed response includes mass intercultural health brigades with river and air transport, expedited procurement of tests, antibiotics and the acellular hexavalent vaccine, plus stronger epidemiological surveillance.
• Experts highlight barriers in budget, staffing, transport logistics and vaccine hesitancy reported at about 66%, with calls for native-language outreach, verbal autopsies for accurate registration and laboratory testing to assess potential antibiotic resistance; the health ministry has not announced an emergency.