142 Health Problems from Mosquitoes
Malaria on the Trans-Amazon Highway
For many years, the government of Brazil worked with communities throughout
the country to prevent and treat malaria. After years of work, there was no
longer much malaria in Brazil. But over time, with changes in land use, and
with less health care and health promotion, malaria began to come back.
In 1970, the government began to build a new road through the rainforest
called the Trans-Amazon Highway. The government built houses and farms
along the new highway and moved people from the poorest and most crowded
parts of Brazil to live there. Cutting a road through the rainforest destroyed
millions of trees and left a large area with no groundcover. Rainwater collected
in ditches and pools, making places for mosquitoes to breed. Animals and birds
that would normally eat the mosquitoes were killed or fled from the area the
road passed through. And there were few clinics or health workers to care for
the people building the road and moving into the new settlements.
Wherever the highway went, malaria followed. Many of the people who
built the road caught malaria, and many died from it, as did the people who
settled along the completed highway. The new settlers suffered greatly because
the soil was not rich enough for farming and rains damaged the road, making
travel difficult. Poverty and isolation made health problems worse. Once again,
malaria became the number one killer in the entire country.
A Community Guide to Environmental Health 2012