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Article

French

ID: <

10.4000/nuevomundo.3168

>

·

DOI: <

10.4000/nuevomundo.3168

>

Where these data come from
Cultural patrons of reproductive and sexual behaviour in the Bolivian Andes

Abstract

The existing cultural representations and practices around reproduction and sexuality are key elements in understanding reproductive and sexual health and rights in Bolivia. Apart from the country’s significant cultural diversity, there is not one but a variety of patrons of reproductive and sexual behaviour. Aymaras consider, for example, that childbirth and menstruation clean and purify the body, that the woman is fertile during menstruations, that the placenta must be buried, etc. In this way, the Bolivian population often uses traditional medicine, which is legally recognised in Bolivia, but little consideration is given to ‘modern’ medicine, which gives the country two parallel health systems. Biomedical medicine, which is predominant in the institutionalised health system, reflects a phenomenon of non-communication between popular knowledge and scientific education, does not respect or even weakens cosmovisions and cultural practices. Shock and distance between the cognitive models of doctors and Andean women, lack of training, authoritarian attitude of non-acceptance of expectations and cultural traditions on the part of medical staff fuel underuse of health services, a degree of passivity on the part of women with regard to their maternal and female health, thus affecting women’s reproductive and sexual health and, above all, the exercise of their rights in this regard. No political and social efforts are being made to re-conceptualise reproductive and sexuality health and its practices, which would make it possible to link scientific medicine with knowledge of traditional medicine, thereby improving reproductive and sexual health indicators, such as maternal and child mortalities, the rates of which are among the highest in Latin America.

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