Bejkaariwa´ a: Proposal for an intercultural health model for the ette ennaka indigenous people

Colombia, as a multiethnic and multicultural country, faces the challenge of including the recognition of diversity in all facets of the life of its population. But although 30 years have passed since the 1991 Political Constitution, putting this dream into practice is a job that is still being done. This book, therefore, is directed in that way, because it presents the proposal of an intercultural health model for the Ette Ennaka people with which it seeks to point the way of physical, spiritual and emotional well-being of the Ette people. The research arose from the little information on the health situation of indigenous peoples and above all to propose alternatives for combining knowledge. The research was funded by Colciencias, through call 744. It established an inter-institutional alliance of different research groups and the participation of members of the ette people. The methodology was mixed, therefore, it combined the epidemiological view in the quantitative part, with the ethnographic approach of the qualitative one. It was developed between 2017 and 2019, through direct observation in the field, documentary sources, census, surveys, verbal autopsy, interviews and audiovisual record. The proposal focuses on culture-based care and emphasizes throughout the chapters on the importance of the social and cultural, in health-disease processes. Similarly, it details particularities of the ette, from their history, customs, spirituality, food and caregivers. Also, it explores the territory and its characteristics, and then lands on the analysis of the health situation. In the end, it proposes strategies that indicate problems and solutions, in which participation, intercultural education and negotiation of care are proposed as transversal and decisive elements at the moment of beginning to consolidate health cultures.