Doctors for Global Health, a US-based non-profit organization, has been involved with implementing a small project in a group of indigenous communities in an isolated rural in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas since 1998. These communities sympathize with the Zapatista rebellion and do not accept any aid from the Mexican government. The work with their communities is an attempt to help them develop a system of basic health care and train health promoters in a way that respects their traditions and their decision to be apart from the Mexican public health system until their demands for peace and respect for human rights are met.
Learning Objectives: 1. Identify health problems in Chiapas specifically as they relate to the history of colonialism in Mexico 2. Describe community health interventions by Doctors for Global Health that attempt to ameliorate health problems of colonialism 3. Discuss how indigenous communites can assert their autonomy in public health activities
Keywords: International Health, Indigenous Populations
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.