Clinical case: Cultural relevance in health care, in the CAPLC Pediatrics service

Abstract

Interculturality and cultural relevance in health care are concepts with a long history in ethnically diverse population territories, which are constantly analyzed, debated and reformulated. Likewise, their specific applications differ according to different temporal, territorial, social and institutional factors. This clinical case, built with anthropological methodologies, such as participant observation and in-depth interview, presents an experience of health care with cultural relevance in the Padre las Casas Care Complex, with the objective of making visible the implementation of public policies and social initiatives around these topics, and how the tools provided to healthcare providers and users represent an increase in the quality of care delivered by the public system. From this process, fundamental concepts of the Mapuche Kimün are rescued, along with presenting elements that enable this model of care and ongoing challenges. Furthermore, some missing conditions are raised to be able to propose the existence of interculturality are raised, and how trying to interculturality it can lead to a more comprehensive understanding of health, which is deployed in the different dimensions of daily life.