GLOBAL HEALTH, INTERCULTURAL HEALTH, AND THE MARGINALIZATION OF TRADITIONAL BIRTH ATTENDANTS IN ECUADOR

In Latin America, functionalist anthropology facilitated the imposition of a hegemonic biomedical model, subordinating ancestral medical systems. Consequently, most official health systems in the region typically favour biomedical professionals to the detriment of ancestral practices and knowledge. This has been compounded by decades of global health agendas developed by international organisations (UNFPA, PAHO, WHO). This chapter shows how, despite adopting policies of interculturality that are meant to promote Indigenous practices, Indigenous peoples and nationalities are still marginalized in Ecuador. This is clear in the area of childbirth, where ancestral midwives have systematically been displaced from attending births. This chapter argues that Ecuador's intercultural policies have reproduced the same logic of domination and have been bolstered by the global health agenda, which has shored up this unequal relationship between ancestral midwives and biomedically trained health-care workers.