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Community Health Workers In Central-Southern Amazonia: An Ethnographic Account Of The Munduruku People Of Kwatá Laranjal Indigenous Land, Daniel Scopel, Raquel Dias-Scopel, Esther Jean Langdon

Tipití: Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America

This article analyzes the role of Munduruku indigenous community health workers (CHW) with the expansion of biomedical services as part of state presence and territorial control in Brazil. Centuries of interethnic contacts among the Munduruku have resulted in a plurality of health practices. Since 1999, Primary services have increased significantly, when the Indigenous Health System (SASI) was created. CHWs were incorporated as part of the health teams serving the indigenous lands. Munduruku CHWs have not only assumed an important role in the delivery of biomedical services, but also are key in the articulation between different traditions of care. Although there …