Justin Jusieh, a 25-year-old Penan man from a small, isolated settlement in upriver Sarawak, sat at the breakfast table and recounted, in a quiet voice, the death of his mother, Jari Lenau, 40.

“My mother was healthy until the middle of December 2007,” Justin said. “She started bleeding, as if she was having her monthly period, only the bleeding went on and on.

“She went to the nearest clinic at Long Lellang, half an hour away by boat. The nurse there examined her, but after she got home, the bleeding got worse.