Indigenous Traditional Medicine and Intercultural Healthcare in Bolivia: A Case Study From the Potosi Region

Abstract

Indigenous peoples have the worst socio-demographic indicators and the largest inequalities in terms of access to social services and health in the Latin American region, Bolivia included. In the last few years, attempts to implement policies that support indigenous people's health rights led to the development of intercultural health approaches. Yet, acceptance and integration of indigenous medicine into the biomedical health system presents a major challenge to intercultural health in Latin America. The objective of this article is to analyze the case of a health center in Tinguipaya, one of the first and few examples of intercultural health initiatives in Bolivia. This intercultural health project, which represents a pioneer experience with regard to the creation of intercultural health services in Bolivia, aims to create a network between local communities, traditional healers, and biomedical staff and offer a more culturally sensitive and holistic health service for indigenous people living in the area. The aim of this article is to critically assess this initiative and to analyze the main challenges met in the creation of a more effective intercultural health policy. The extent to which this initiative succeeded in promoting the integration between indigenous health practitioners and biomedical staff as well as in improving access to health care for local indigenous patients will also be examined.

Notes

¹ Susto is a cultural illness, specifically a fright sickness with strong psychological overtones. It is indigenously attributed to soul loss resulting from frightful or traumatic experiences. Among the indigenous peoples of Latin America, susto may be conceptualized as a case of spirit attack.

² Mal aire refers to the harmful effects of being exposed to night air that is cold and damp. It is often felt to be caused by moving rapidly from a warm or hot environment into a very cold one, breathing in cold night air, or working up a sweat and not allowing enough time to cool down.

³ Mal viento (bad wind) is a form of mal aire and results from lingering spirits of dead people who died in a violent manner attacking and entering a living person.