The effects of integrative healthcare on Peruvian Indigenous groups

Abstract

Indigenous communities are vulnerable to a variety of health risks due to political marginalization, socioeconomic challenges and geographic isolation. Most developed and developing nations rely mainly on biomedical healthcare services, which do not adequately incorporate the use of traditional medicinal knowledge. Peru is home to over 50 Indigenous groups, many of which practice holistic and traditional approaches to healthcare. Peruvian healers and medicinal plants play an integral role in such traditional medicinal systems. Integrative healthcare, which incorporates Indigenous medicine into the biomedical healthcare system, is a potential solution to improving healthcare services for an entire nation. However, integrative healthcare fails to address the lack of accessibility and affordability of the Peruvian healthcare system for marginalized populations. Traditional medicine reflects a multi-dimensional, spiritual and individualized approach to healthcare that is in conflict with the scientific and esoteric nature of the biomedical system. Incorporating traditional medicine into the biomedical system could threaten the existence of traditional medicinal knowledge and decrease the need for dissemination of traditional knowledge and culture. In a Peruvian context, integrative healthcare would have a detrimental impact on the maintenance and dissemination of Indigenous Peruvian medical knowledge.
 
 Keywords: Peru; Indigenous; health; policy; traditional, complementary and alternative medicine (TCAM)