Marriage of Medicines, A

This article uses the example of Venezuela to discuss how medical professionals are sharing information and collaborating with local traditional healers to offer health services to communities. "We have to respect the popularity of traditional medicine," said Venezuelan doctor Jenny García, "The shaman is a very important figure here; we can’t compete with him. What we do instead is alternate traditional medicine with Western medicine. We share information with, and ask for assistance from, traditional medical practitioners.”

According to this article, this attitude reflects a new collaborative approach to traditional medicine that is being promoted by public health advocates, not only in Venezuela, but internationally as well. It parallels a growing interest among people in developed countries in traditional medical practices, as well as growing commercial interest in modern pharmacological applications of traditional medicinal plants. The new approach also recognises that traditional healing practices, based on local cultures and resources and developed over centuries, can be effective and remain the most readily accessible form of health care for millions of people in developing countries. "Traditional medicine, including collective knowledge about cures, self-care strategies and other traditional practices, is a fundamental part of community resources," says Rocio Rojas, an expert on indigenous health at the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO). "Gaining better knowledge of these practices is essential for developing strategies that will improve access to and quality of health care for indigenous populations."

In Venezuela authorities have implemented legislation formalising the relationship between modern and traditional medicines. Article 122 of the new constitution (which took effect in 2000) recognises indigenous patients' right to culturally appropriate treatment and establishes doctors' duty to take local beliefs and cultural norms into account. A next step for Venezuela’s Ministry of Health is to understand more fully the needs and culture of the indigenous communities it has the responsibility to reach. According to the article, in some parts of the Amazon, including Isla Ratón, health workers have been working with specific communities for many years and have built up an understanding of the local language, culture and health needs.

The article explains that to help meet the health needs of indigenous Amazonian communities Venezuela’s Ministry of Health is building an electronic database on the needs, cultures and health problems of the country’s indigenous population. Dalia Rivero, a Ministry of Health physician, is in charge of the effort. She works with an anthropologist, and together they draw on previous investigations by university researchers, studies by the health and education ministries and field reports by health workers, scientists and missionaries. Rivero hopes eventually to produce a file on each of Venezuela’s 32 indigenous communities, 19 of which are located in the Amazon. Each file would include disease and mortality statistics, relevant cultural and linguistic information, population estimates and details about community representatives and traditional medical practitioners. These fact-packs would then be provided to health workers posted to indigenous communities, including those in the rural doctors program. The improved information also would allow the ministry to allocate health resources better.

The article states that much traditional knowledge is still at risk, particularly as communities begin to adopt Western habits and gradually abandon aspects of traditional culture. An exchange programme has been created that brings shamans together to discuss their work and pool their knowledge to encourage the survival of the body of indigenous knowledge and believes the ministry would likely provide financial support for the scheme. In the Wayuu communities of western Venezuela, "intercultural homes" (casas interculturales) have been established where mothers can leave their children in the care of community elders, who pass on their culture to the younger generation. The homes also provide meals, and shamans treat patients there and talk to the children about culture.

Click here to access the full article online.

Click here for a fact sheet on traditional medicine offered by the World Health Organization (WHO). Click here for additional online resources related to traditional medicine.