FCI hosts intercultural care conference

Family Care International co-hosted a two-day meeting in late September to explore how well new, more culturally-sensitive maternal health approaches are responding to the needs of indigenous women in six Latin American countries. The conference, which took place in Quito, Ecuador and was also hosted by the Ecuadorian Ministry of Public Health and UNFPA-Ecuador, included technical and Ministry of Health teams, as well as indigenous leaders, from Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, Guatemala, Honduras, and Panama. Discussions focused on strategies for ensuring  the implementation of culturally-sensitive norms and protocols at the community level, highlighting best practices in intercultural maternal health care.

This conference built on several years of work by FCI and its partners, with support from the UN Population Fund-UNFPA, the Spanish international development agency AECID and other donors, to improve the quality and increase utilization of maternal health services in rural communities in several Latin American countries by ensuring that care is provided in a manner that is sensitive to the customs and traditions of indigenous cultures.