Beyond medical pluralism: characterising health-care delivery of biomedicine and traditional medicine in rural Guatemala
| Autor: | Elizabeth Hoyler, David Boyd, Roxana Martinez, Kurren Mehta, Hunter M. Nisonoff |
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| Rok vydání: | 2016 |
| Předmět: |
Adult
Male medicine.medical_specialty Psychological intervention Alternative medicine Indigenous 03 medical and health sciences 0302 clinical medicine Converse Health care Health Services Indigenous Humans Medicine Maya 0601 history and archaeology 030212 general & internal medicine Biomedicine Aged Aged 80 and over 060101 anthropology Traditional medicine business.industry Anthropology Medical Public Health Environmental and Occupational Health 06 humanities and the arts Middle Aged Guatemala Pluralism (political theory) Female Medicine Traditional Rural Health Services business Delivery of Health Care |
| Zdroj: | Global Public Health. 13:503-517 |
| ISSN: | 1744-1706 1744-1692 |
| Popis: | Although approximately one half of Guatemalans are indigenous, the Guatemalan Maya account for 72% of the extremely poor within the country. While some biomedical services are available in these communities, many Maya utilise traditional medicine as a significant, if not primary, source of health care. While existing medical anthropological research characterises these modes of medicine as medically dichotomous or pluralistic, our research in a Maya community of the Western Highlands, Concepción Huista, builds on previous studies and finds instead a syncretistic, imbricated local health system. We find significant overlap and interpenetration of the biomedical and traditional medical models that are described best as a framework where practitioners in both settings employ elements of the other in order to best meet community needs. By focusing on the practitioner's perspective, we demonstrate that in addition to patients' willingness to seek care across health systems, practitioners converse across seemingly distinct systems via incorporation of certain elements of the 'other'. Interventions to date have not accounted for this imbrication. Guatemalan governmental policies to support local healers have led to little practical change in the health-care landscape of the country. Therefore, understanding this complex imbrication is crucial for interventions and policy changes. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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