Community Health
Health services in Central America and Mexico are directly inhibited by discrimination, poverty, and gender inequality.
Challenges
Social, economic and cultural factors in Mesoamerica act as additional barriers for marginalized communities to access public health systems. Western medical practices that dismiss ancestral traditions often result in the alienation of Indigenous peoples from formal health services, which contributes to high levels of malnutrition and high maternal and infant mortality rates. Despite servicing Indigenous populations, healthcare workers are rarely provided training opportunities in ancestral medicine, and Indigenous peoples have limited access to care in their own languages.
Moreover, widespread financial hardship, combined with sexism and discrimination, have led to Central America experiencing the highest HIV/AIDS rates in all of Latin America. Emotional and physical violence against women worsens the spread of HIV/AIDS, and people living with HIV/AIDS are stigmatized.
What We Do
In the region, we (Horizons of Friendship) support women and Indigenous-led grassroots organizations to strengthen their health systems. Together with our partners, we support actions that embrace the best of local healthcare traditions and modern medical practices. Horizons strives to strengthen the role of civil society in pressing governments to deliver on their commitments to public health, maternal, newborn, and child health, and on HIV/AIDS issues in particular.
Horizons is committed to:
Raising awareness of the inherent value of ancestral medicine, and governments’ commitments to addressing HIV/AIDS issues,
Increasing citizen pressure on governments to improve healthcare services and policies for Indigenous peoples and ensure compliance related to public health,
Funding studies on traditional Indigenous medicine that explore the impact of HIV/AIDS on Indigenous, Afro-descendant and other marginalized communities,
Promoting holistic healthcare by incorporating both ancestral and western medical practices, and encouraging dialogue between Indigenous and non-Indigenous health practitioners,
Educating communities to combat discrimination against persons living with HIV/AIDS,
Supporting the empowerment of women and girls, including sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) education.