Hi Liz, thank you for the comment!

You mentioned something that I consider very important which is the cultural aspect.

In the past 60-40 years the Latin America health systems were aiming to provide centralized, institutionalized and professionalized services. One strong weakness of this approach is that it replaced the personal and customized contact with a series of processes in the shape of forms, appointments, calls. Many of them ended up becoming real nightmares for people with low income/education levels.

The HW have the potential to brake those cultural barriers. They resemble better the traditional approach, which was based on people who inherited basic knowledge on how to use natural products to cure others (chamán, curanderos or hierberos) and were highly approachable and respected in the community.

I am not sure how are the concepts/proposal taken forward from now on. But I can see that you have valuable expertise on the topic. Hopefully we will get back to it and improve it. If that is the case, I will per sure get back in touch with you.

Thanks!

Hey Juan,

There are definitely similarities with the experience of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people here in Australia... Traditionally their culture involves a holistic approach to health care that includes total physical, emotional, spiritual, environmental, economical and community wellbeing. These aspects are all considered to be deeply interlinked. Mainstream western medicine involving a 10 minute doctor consultation and a few pills, with little time taken to explain the way western treatments work, are not culturally appropriate for many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people --> this creates a barrier to health care, leading to poor identification and intervention, poor treatment compliance, and poor health outcomes. HWs have a huge impact in breaking down these cultural barriers and contributing to better health in their communities. This is why I like your idea! Similar models are working well here.

For me the challenge will be in turning it into a social business. In Australia these services are paid for by government funding so there is less opportunity to turn the model into a successful social enterprise given that people can get the same service for free (even though HWs need more funding than the government provides). I don't know as much about the Latin American context, but I'd be interested to see this idea in action to see whether it is able to create sustainable revenue streams.

Good luck with it! Would love to contribute what I can if you get the chance to take it further.

All the best,

Liz

Hey Juan,

There are definitely similarities with the experience of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people here in Australia... Traditionally their culture involves a holistic approach to health care that includes total physical, emotional, spiritual, environmental, economical and community wellbeing. These aspects are all considered to be deeply interlinked. Mainstream western medicine involving a 10 minute doctor consultation and a few pills, with little time taken to explain the way western treatments work, are not culturally appropriate for many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people --> this creates a barrier to health care, leading to poor identification and intervention, poor treatment compliance, and poor health outcomes. HWs have a huge impact in breaking down these cultural barriers and contributing to better health in their communities. This is why I like your idea! Similar models are working well here.

For me the challenge will be in turning it into a social business. In Australia these services are paid for by government funding so there is less opportunity to turn the model into a successful social enterprise given that people can get the same service for free (even though HWs need more funding than the government provides). I don't know as much about the Latin American context, but I'd be interested to see this idea in action to see whether it is able to create sustainable revenue streams.

Good luck with it! Would love to contribute what I can if you get the chance to take it further.

All the best,

Liz

Hi Patricio. There is indeed plenty to elaborate on "the how" which I assume and expect will happen in further stages.

Maybe to bring some perspective, when I mentioned personal and professional development I am referring to the Health Workers.

The Health Workers (HW) are to be selected from within the local population of Caldas and must be trained to gain the qualification of HW (which give them a profession) and also a it upgrades their self-perception opening doors for personal development -which is usually include within this type of programs-.

Hi Penny, thanks for the comment. The inputs from the ground -and also some youtube videos showing protests around the health system in Caldas- made me believe that instead of centralizing (hub) we better try descentralizing (or democratizing) the health systems. I would prefer to start engaging the population with grass roots initiatives and then building up to the hubs. Best!

Must definitively! Women are the best target group - http://bit.ly/oFJ6yd

Indeed, this is like an extension of Bienestar.
I will give it some thought and find the most valuable connections, also with the other initiatives. Thanks for the heads up!

.

Hi Srinivasan, thanks for the comment.
I do believe that an already organized group is the best way to enter.
If there is an alignment of values, it will easily become a win win situation.

Thanks!
I agree with you, Universities are great for middle class groups while farmers' market sellers for lower income groups. I believe there are options to break in, maybe the question is which is the most urgent target group to reach.