In many parts of Mesoamerica, public health systems are severely limited and under-resourced. The region’s Indigenous peoples — who are particularly susceptible to conditions associated with poverty such as malnutrition, diarrhoeal and respiratory diseases, high maternal and infant mortality rates — often face additional barriers (cultural, language, financial, etc.) in accessing official health services. Within this context, traditional Indigenous medicine continues to play a key role in assuring the well-being of Indigenous communities.

For thousands of years, health care networks have existed amongst Indigenous communities in Mesoamerica. They have evolved and adapted to changing times, while maintaining a holistic approach: one that is based on an Indigenous view of the world, linking the physical, emotional and spiritual well-being of the whole person and recognizing the harmonious relationship with nature. Indigenous midwives and traditional healers have made — and continue to make — an invaluable contribution to the health and survival of their communities throughout Mesoamerica. But their contributions largely go unrecognized and, with few exceptions, are rejected by officialdom.

What’s Horizons Doing?

We are convinced of the value of the medicinal knowledge and experience of the Indigenous peoples of Mesoamerica. In 2011, Horizons and our partner PIES de Occidente, will launch a regional project on Ancestral Medicine and Community Health. The initiative will support efforts by our partners to recover traditional knowledge and show its value to the public, as well as to national governments who often find themselves torn between promoting the common good and yielding to the pressure of transnational economic interests, particularly those of the pharmaceutical industry. It will also support the fundamental right of Indigenous peoples to culturally appropriate health care that combines the best of both traditional and “western” medicine.