Migration, Urbanization, and the Health Transition in Peru

The southern Amazon region of Madre de Dios is undergoing rapid demographic, environmental and economic changes that are causing shifts in the health burdens reported by families and communities across the region. Madre de Dios (MDD) is considered one of the 7 “hottest hotspots of biodiversity,” but is under tremendous pressure from: (1) the 2011 opening of the Interoceanic Highway that connects rural Peruvian and Brazilian Amazon communities to Pacific and Atlantic ports; (2) the incipient rise of gold mining that has resulted in both the release of millions of tons of mercury and altered human livelihoods; and (3) land conflicts between gold miners, logging and castana concessionaries, Indigenous tribes, natural parks for ecotourism, and expansion of both agricultural and urban areas. This presentation will introduce the Madre de Dios Research Project, which involves a population-based survey of households living along the Interoceanic Highway as well as a random sample of households living along the Madre de Dios River. Our data supports the idea that households are experiencing dual disease burdens, have limited livelihood choices, and are potentially exposed to both vector-borne diseases as well as environmental toxins such as mercury, arsenic and selenium.