Best Practices in Intercultural Health

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The objective of this technical cooperation is to complete a best practice study which will include an inventory of indigenous health concerns, recommendations for the design of Bank lending operations to make the Bank's borrower's health programs and services more effective and culturally appropriate and to establish a foundation for the development of a comprehensive and acceptable framework for Bank programs that incorporates traditional medicine into health programs and services. The specific objectives of the study are: a) Consult with regional operations staff regarding their concerns and status of projects for which this kind of information would be beneficial. b) Analyze the operations and unique approaches of intercultural health centers and initiatives which articulate traditional and conventional medicinal practices in Brazil, Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia, and Mexico in order to analyze lessons learned and develop recommendations from these experiences. Whereas consensus exists between the Bank's health experts and the specialists on indigenous peoples regarding the desirability of increasing indigenous peoples' access to health services through culturally sensitive expansions of national health systems, there is considerable discussion regarding the role of traditional medicinal practices in the delivery of health services. c) Analyze emerging indigenous initiatives and proposals which promote the creation of one health system based on parameters and cultural concepts of comprehensive well being, disease and death. d) Define specific socially and culturally appropriate activities and methodologies which will be included in the design and implementation of the preventive health component in the Seguro Social Campesino program in Ecuador (EC-0101). e) Develop recommendations that can be used in the design and development of other Bank financed health programs. f) Contribute to the development of the Bank's general health and indigenous development strategies as mandated by the Board of Executive Directors.