The Roman Catholic Church in Brazil says that 60% of the country's indigenous Indians are suffering from severe health problems, and has accused the government of not doing enough to help them.

At a congressional hearing, church missionaries said that almost half of Brazil's Indians were going hungry, and that in some areas, Indian mortality rates were five times the national average.

They said other diseases included malaria, respiratory infections and diarrhoea, and called for extra funding to alleviate the problem.

The BBC Brazil correspondent says many diseases now prevalent among the country's Indians were unknown before colonisation.