Health conditions of Hitnü indigenous people potentially exposed to crude oil in Arauca, Colombia
Abstract
Introduction: The Hitnü indigenous people live in precarious sanitary conditions, with food insecurity and being victims of sociopolitical violence in Arauca, Colombia. In addition, it is possible that they may be affected by exposure to hydrocarbons found in oil.
Objective: To identify the health outcomes of morbidity and mortality profiles of the Hitnü people that could be associated with the exposure to crude oil.
Materials and methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out with Hitnü indigenous people, during February and March, 2021, time of drought. A household questionnaire was applied, and one individual to collect data from the environment around the house, occupations and other activities, as well as data from sociodemographic, signs, symptoms, and findings of a medical examination. The potential association with hydrocarbons was explored considering three groups: inhabitants in Arauca city, Aspejaná reserve (not exposed), and San José del Lipa and La Vorágine reserves (exposed by the Ele river and tributaries). With free listings, causes of death were explored. The study incorporated a rigorous intercultural management in all its components.
Results: A total of 576 indigenous people from 16 settlements participated. The water consumed could serve as means of exposure to hydrocarbons. Health problems were very varied, including infectious and chronic diseases, malnutrition, and trauma. The masses on the neck were associated with residing in the ancestral reserves (PR = 3.86; CI95% 1.77-8.39), territories with potential exposure to crude-oil. The most relevant causes of death were homicide, tumors, and tuberculosis.
Conclusion: For its possible association with exposure to hydrocarbons, it is a priority to start the intercultural study of lymphadenopathies in indigenous communities potentially exposed to crude oil.
Downloads
References
International Agency for Research on Cancer. Monographs on the evaluation of the carcinogenic risk of chemicals to man: Occupational exposures to petroleum refining; crude oil and major petroleum fuels. Lyon: IARC, 1989.
Ramírez MI, Arévalo AP, Sotomayor S, Bailon-Moscoso N. Contamination by oil crude extraction – Refinement and their effects on human health. Environ Pollut. 2017;231:415-25. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2017.08.017
Coronel Vargas G, Au WW, Izzotti A. Public health issues from crude-oil production in the Ecuadorian Amazon territories. Sci Total Environ. 2020;719:134647. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.134647
Maher D. The fatal attraction of civil war: Violence and the oil sector in Arauca. In: Maher D, Editor. Civil war and uncivil development. Rethinking political violence. Manchester, UK: University of Manchester, 2018.
Juzgado Primero Civil del Circuito Especializado en Restitución de Tierras de Cúcuta. Medida cautelar para protección del territorio de la comunidad indígena Hitnü [Auto interlocutorio]. 20 de enero, 2017. San José de Cúcuta: Juzgado Primero Civil; 2017.
Lobo-Guerrero M, Herrera X. La supervivencia de un pueblo: los Hitnü. Revista Amerindia 1983;8(Supl.2):1-27.
Pinzón NM. José del Carmen Terán, una historia de vida para contar. Memoria y relatos del Llano. Bogotá, D. C.: Centro de Investigación y Estudios Sociales para la Paz (CIESPAZ); 2015.
Soto-Aguirre JA. Cazadores sin presas, horticultores sin tierra. Una aproximación a las formas actuales de producción y acceso al alimento en el pueblo indígena Hitnü. Jangwa Pana. 2017;16:179-96.
Guerrero Useda ME. Ruptura de oleoductos por interferencia externa, daño ambiental y sostenibilidad en Colombia. Revista Producción + Limpia. 2018;13:7-13. https://doi.org/10.22507/pml.v13n2a1
Cabrera G. Los Nukak: de caníbales a indígenas. Itinerario de una exclusión. Palimpsestvs. 2002;2:112-8.
Aponte Miranda L. The U’wa and Occidental Petroleum: Searching for corporate accountability in violations of indigenous land rights. Am Indian Law Rev. 2006/2007;31:651-73. https://doi.org/10.2307/20070802
Lobo-Guerrero M, Herrera X. El jitnu /’hitnɯ/ del medio río Ele. En: Lenguas indígenas de Colombia. Una visión descriptiva. Santafé de Bogotá: Instituto Caro y Cuervo; 2000. p. 611-24.
Rothman K. Methodological frontiers in environmental epidemiology. Environ Health Perspect 1993;101(Suppl.4):19-21. https://doi.org/10.2307/3431656
Pekkanen J, Pearce N. Environmental epidemiology: Challenges and opportunities. Environ Health Perspect 2001;109:1-5. https://doi.org/10.2307/3434913
Bousfield WA, Barclay WD. The relationship between order and frequency of occurrence of restricted associative responses. J Exp Psychol. 1950;40:643-7. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0059019
Coronel-Sánchez VH, Álvarez-Pabón Y, Esteban LY, Vargas-Valero Ó, Omaña JJ, Idrovo AJ. Lay-based morbidity profiles of sugar cane workers: Testing a new method using free lists. J Prim Prev. 2020;41:39-49. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10935-019-00575-y
Smith J. Using ANTHOPAC 3.5 and a spreadsheet to compute a free-list salience index. Field Methods. 1993;5:1-3. https://doi.org/10.1177/15258 22X93 00500 301
Fernández-Niño JA, Idrovo ÁJ, Giraldo-Gartner V, Molina-León HF. Los dominios culturales de la malaria: una aproximación a los saberes no institucionales. Biomédica. 2014;34:250-9. https://doi.org/10.7705/biomedica.v34i2.1629
Landrigan PJ. Commentary: Environmental disease – A preventable epidemic. Am J Public Health. 1992;82:941-3. https://doi.org/10.2105/ajph.82.7.941
Scadding JG. Health and disease: What can medicine do for philosophy? J Med Ethics. 1988;14:118-24.
Galeano-Páez C, Ricardo-Caldera D, Jiménez-Vidal L, Peñata-Taborda A, Coneo-Pretelt A, Rumié-Mendoza M, et al. Genetic instability among Hitnü people living in Colombian crudeoil exploitation areas. Int J Environ Res Public Health 2022;19:11189. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph191811189
Cucunubá ZM, Nouvellet P, Conteh L, Vera MJ, Angulo VM, Dib JC, et al. Modelling historical changes in the force-of-infection of Chagas disease to inform control and elimination programmes: Application in Colombia. BMJ Glob Health. 2017;2:e000345. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjgh-2017-000345
Silva IA, Nyland JF, Gorman A, Perisse A, Ventura AM, Santos EC, et al. Mercury exposure, malaria, and serum antinuclear/antinucleolar antibodies in Amazon populations in Brazil: A cross-sectional study. Environ Health. 2004;3:11. https://doi.org/10.1186/1476-069X-3-11
Swaen GG, Teggeler O, van Amelsvoort LG. False positive outcomes and design characteristics in occupational cancer epidemiology studies. Int J Epidemiol. 2001;30:948-54. https://doi.org/10.1093/ije/30.5.948
Huria T, Palmer SC, Pitama S, Beckert L, Lacey C, Ewen S, et al. Consolidated criteria for strengthening reporting of health research involving indigenous peoples: The CONSIDER statement. BMC Med Res Methodol. 2019;19:173. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12874-019-0815-8
Leandro-Reguillo P, Thomson-Luque R, Monteiro WM, de Lacerda MVG. Urban and architectural risk factors for malaria in indigenous Amazonian settlements in Brazil: A typological analysis. Malar J. 2015;14:284. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12936-015-0806-0
Langebaek CH. La agricultura. En: Antes de Colombia. Bogotá DC: Debate; 2021. p. 173-305.
Gómez-Restrepo C, Rincón CJ, Urrego-Mendoza Z. Salud mental, sufrimiento emocional, problemas y trastornos mentales de indígenas colombianos. Datos de la Encuesta Nacional de Salud Mental 2015. Rev Colomb Psiquiat. 2016;45(Suppl.1):119-26. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rcp.2016.09.005
Martínez-Silva PA. La conducta suicida en el grupo étnico indígena de Colombia: un fenómeno por comprender. Salud UIS. 2015;47:241-2.
Bermúdez JN, Ayala D, Herrán OF. Nutrition gap in children, urban-rural: The key education and food. Colombia, 2015. Rev Saúde Pública. 2020;54:111. https://doi.org/10.11606/s1518-8787.2020054001925
Pontzer H, Wood BM, Raichlen DA. Hunter-gatherers as models in public health. Obes Rev. 2018;19(Suppl.1):24-35. https://doi.org/10.1111/obr.12785
Johansen BE. Indigenous peoples and environmental issues. Westport: Greenwood Press; 2003.
Chelala C. Colombian U’wa face hazards of oil drilling. Lancet. 1998;352:209. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(05)77820-X
Brown P. Popular epidemiology and toxic waste contamination: Lay and professional ways of knowing. J Health Soc Behav. 1992;33:267-81. https://doi.org/10.2307/2137356
San Sebastián M, Hurtig AK. Oil development and health in the Amazon basin of Ecuador: The popular epidemiology process. Soc Sci Med. 2005;60:799-807. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2004.06.016
Hurtig AK, San Sebastián M. Geographical differences in cancer incidence in the Amazon basin of Ecuador in relation to residence near oil fields. Int J Epidemiol. 2002;31:1021-7. https://doi.org/10.1093/ije/31.5.1021
Rothman KJ, Arellano F. Responses to “Texaco and its consultants”: elevating the level of scientific discourse. Int J Occup Environ Health. 2005;11:327-8. https://doi.org/10.1179/107735205800245939
Breilh J, Branco Jefer C, Castelman BI, Cherniack M, Christiani DC, Cicolella A, et al. Texaco and its consultants. Int J Occup Environ Health. 2005;11:217-20. https://doi.org/10.1179/oeh.2005.11.2.217
Hurtig AK, San Sebastián M. Epidemiology on the side of the angels or the people? Int J Epidemiol. 2002;32:658-9. https://doi.org/10.1093/ije/dyg210
Méndez F, Zapata AM. Conflicto armado, contaminación y riesgos en salud: Una evaluación de riesgo por tres fuentes de exposición ambiental asociadas al conflicto en Colombia. Biomédica 2021;41:660-675. https://doi.org/10.7705/biomedica.5928
Some similar items:
- Luz Elena Velásquez, Catalina Gómez, Erika Valencia, Laura Salazar, Eudoro Casas, Paragonimosis in the peri-urban zone of Medellín, Antioquia , Biomedica: Vol. 28 No. 3 (2008)
- Daniel Eduardo Henao, Fabián Alberto Jaimes, Evidence-based medicine: an epistemological approach , Biomedica: Vol. 29 No. 1 (2009)
- Juan P. Gómez, Juan C. Quintana, Patricia Arbeláez, Jorge Fernández, Juan F. Silva, Jacqueline Barona, Juan C. Gutiérrez, Abel Díaz, Rafael Otero, Tityus asthenes scorpion stings: epidemiological, clinical and toxicological aspects , Biomedica: Vol. 30 No. 1 (2010)
- Juan Gabriel Piñeros, Malaria and social health determinants: a new heuristic framework from the perspective of Latin American social medicine , Biomedica: Vol. 30 No. 2 (2010)
- Richard Hoyos, Lisandro Pacheco, Luz Adriana Agudelo, German Zafra, Pedro Blanco, Omar Triana, Seroprevalence of Chagas disease and associated risk factors in a population of Morroa, Sucre , Biomedica: Vol. 27 No. 1esp (2007): Enfermedad de Chagas
- Sandra Milena Arias, Lina Marcela Salazar, Eudoro Casas, Alexandra Henao, Luz Elena Velásquez, Paragonimus sp. in crabs and awareness of the educational community to aquatic ecosystems in La Miel and La Clara, Caldas, Antioquia , Biomedica: Vol. 31 No. 2 (2011)
- Diana Marcela Echeverry, Juan Miguel Rengifo, Jhon Carlos Castaño, Germán Alberto Téllez, María Mercedes González, Prevalence of Mammomonogamus laryngeus (Strongylida: Syngamidae) nematodes in a bovine slaughterhouse , Biomedica: Vol. 31 No. 3 (2011)
- Gladys Acuña-González, Carlo E. Medina-Solís, Gerardo Maupomé, Mauricio Escoffie-Ramírez, Jesús Hernández-Romano, María de L. Márquez-Corona, Arturo J. Islas-Márquez, Juan J. Villalobos-Rodelo, Family history and socioeconomic risk factors for non-syndromic cleft lip and palate: A matched case-control study in a less developed country , Biomedica: Vol. 31 No. 3 (2011)
- Jaiberth Cardona-Arias, Luz Peláez-Vanegas, Juan López-Saldarriaga, Marcela Duque-Molina, Oscar Leal-Álvarez, Health related quality of life in adults with HIV/AIDS in Colombia , Biomedica: Vol. 31 No. 4 (2011)
- Pablo Chaparro, Julio Padilla, Malaria mortality in Colombia, 1979-2008 , Biomedica: Vol. 32 (2012): Suplemento 1, Malaria
Copyright (c) 2022 Biomedica
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
| Article metrics | |
|---|---|
| Abstract views | |
| Galley vies | |
| PDF Views | |
| HTML views | |
| Other views | |
