Abstract

AIZENBERG, Lila. Salud intercultural y participación comunitaria en mujeres indígenas del amazonas boliviano: Una aproximación crítica. Estud. - Cent. Estud. Av., Univ. Nac. Córdoba [online]. 2012, n.27, pp.71-86. ISSN 1852-1568.

This article questions the intercultural approach to healthcare programs as a strategy to reduce intercultural obstacles, promote community participation and improve women´s access to healthcare. It focuses on the case of indigenous communities in the Department of Beni-Bolivian Amazon- and examines the factors that limit women's community participation and their capacity to adopt preventive health behaviors. Through a qualitative analysis, the study reveals that the low level of community participation is not associated with social disorganization/ apathy in terms of healthcare or consequence of the cultural barrier with the modern medicine, as the intercultural healthcare approach would have expected. Women do possess health care promoters and informal support networks for healthcare. However, indigenous women experience isolation due to the gender barriers. It is mainly the perception of the gender barrier what reduces women's possibility to take advantage of informal networks or to use these networks to benefit their health.

Keywords : community participation; intercultural healthcare; gender; Bolivia.