Health of Indigenous Peoples

Abstract

Indigenous populations worldwide are experiencing social, cultural, demographic, nutritional, and psychoemotional changes that have a profound impact on health. Regardless of their geographical location or sociopolitical situation, health indicators are always poorer for indigenous populations than for nonindigenous ones. The determinants of this gap are multiple and interactive, and their analysis requires a biocultural framework. Indigenous populations suffer from lower life expectancy, high infant and child mortality, high maternal morbidity and mortality, heavy infectious disease loads, malnutrition, stunted growth, increasing levels of cardiovascular and other chronic diseases, substance abuse, and depression. The devastating effects of colonization, the loss of ancestral land, and language and cultural barriers for access to health care are among the most salient themes characterizing the poor health situation of indigenous people. Anthropology is extremely well suited to address the interplay among social, economic, and political forces that shape the local experiences of illness.