The Intercultural
Health Program
The Intercultural Health Program
Volunteer Doctor ProgramCanadian Embassy in Chile Project
International Foundation Project
Health education is an essential component of the Women’s Program. For a number of years, the program has taught basic family health skills, such as the prevention of common illnesses. It also has focused on increasing awareness about and access to existing government health programs. Moreover, the Foundation has acted as a liaison between indigenous communities and the local hospital, working to improve relations between the patients and the staff. It also has provided rural families with the special attention that they need, such as careful explanation of health and medicinal issues to the illiterate.
In June 1999, an independent Health Program was initiated, which aims to address a growing health crisis among Mapuche families. The new Program is especially dedicated to incorporating traditional Mapuche medicine into modern medicinal practices. Like our handicraft program, this has often meant reviving and reinvigorating cultural knowledge that has gradually disappeared. It also seeks to underscore the important role the woman has in preserving and transmitting culture.
The program’s activities, which currently works with 16 women’s groups, and a total of 240 people, include:
- Training in a variety of intercultural health topics
- Implementing greenhouses with medicinal plants
- Incorporating traditional practices into public health institutions
- Providing intercultural social service to the communities
Added to this, the Women’s Program team independently continues with its health training sessions.
The
Chol-Chol Foundation For Human Development
[email protected]
