Clinics in some countries in the region practice both traditional and modern medicine. Health also depends on compliance with social norms and moral obligations. Healing is achieved when harmony is restored between the sick people and their environment. Illness results when that equilibrium is altered. In the South American Andean countries of Ecuador, Bolivia and Peru, traditional medicine still plays a prominent role in the health care of indigenous communities, particularly those in remote rural settings beyond the reach of governmental health services.Įquilibrium and harmony with nature is considered the basis for good health. During several trips to the region, I was able to see the use of traditional medicine among the population of the Andean countries. Indigenous peoples in this region have, over several centuries, developed a complex series of practices as well as an understanding of the human body. They represent thousands of different cultures and ethnic groups whose survival is due, in part, to the efficacy of their traditional health practices. Of the over 476 million indigenous people in the world today an estimated 42 million live in the Americas. Traditional practices of both preventive and curative health care have existed for thousands of years, and today they are often used in conjunction with modern medicine.
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