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PRIORITYMEASURE87
“Guarantee indigenous peoples’ right tohealth, including sexual rights and reproductive rights, and their right to their own traditional medicines
and health practices, especially as regards reducingmaternal and childmortality considering their socio-territorial and cultural
specificities aswell as the structural factors that hinder the exercise of this right.”
Possible lines of action
1. Promulgate specific national legislation on the right of indigenous peoples to health, including sexual and reproductive health, and prepare
regulations, standards and protocols for its application; 2. Develop intercultural health policies and programmes that include sexual and
reproductive health, through negotiation of agreements, consensuses and mutual understandings, and a genuine recognition of the know-how,
languages, world view and health concepts of indigenous peoples, in particular of women, adolescents and youth; 3. Promote and strengthen
traditional indigenous medicine, considering each of its components: traditional indigenous agents or therapists, traditional knowledge, and
natural resources; 4. Conduct comprehensive evaluations of traditional medicine, identifying the elements that make it effective and therapeutic,
and complementing the empirical set of practices with symbolic and cultural dimensions; 5. Strengthen the production of information and
knowledge on health problems that affect indigenous peoples, considering the indigenousworld-view and using participatory processes; 6. Boost
national capacities, both of State agencies and of indigenous organizations, for applying and managing intercultural and linguistically relevant
health care; 7. Strengthen processes for the empowerment of indigenouswomen, which are crucial for their free determination.
Targets
1. By 2030, end maternal morbidity and mortality among indigenous women from preventable causes, and ensure that the levels of maternal
mortality among thesewomen do not exceed those for other women (adapted from SDGs, target 3.1); 2. By 2030, guarantee universal access for
indigenous women and peoples to sexual and reproductive health services, consistent with their individual and collective rights (adapted from
SDGs, target 3.7); 3. By 2030, end preventable deaths of indigenous newborns and under-five children, and ensure that the levels of infant and
child mortality do not exceed those for other boys and girls (adapted from SDGs, target 3.2); 4. Increased life expectancy at birth and health-
adjusted life expectancy (HALE) for indigenous peoples, eliminating the gapwith the rest of the population; 5Models of intercultural health care
duly implemented, in accordancewith the requirements of indigenous peoples; 6. Strengthened traditional indigenousmedicine.
Tentative indicators
1. Maternal mortality rate for indigenous women (SDGs in general); 2. Mortality rate for indigenous children under age 5 (SDGs in general);
3. Life expectancy at birth for the indigenous population and healthy life expectancy at birth; 4. Percentage of indigenous women attended at
childbirth by an intercultural health team; 5. Existence of intercultural sexual and reproductive health services, including preventative measures
and culturally and linguistically relevant information; 6. Traditional indigenous practices accepted and well integrated into the national health
system; 7. Degree of participation of indigenous peoples in health-care management, disaggregated by sex; 8. Percentage of indigenous
communities managing health care in their territories, disaggregated by sex; 9. Existence of health information systems capable of capturing
morbidity andmortality profiles among indigenous peoples, including sexually transmitted infections, disaggregated by sex and age group.
Related instruments,
forums andmechanisms
Permanent Forumon Indigenous Issues, Special Rapporteur, andExpertMechanism (see PM85)
WorldConference on Indigenous Peoples, theOutcomeDocument fromwhichdeclares specifically (paragraph12) “
We recognize the importance
of indigenous peoples’ health practices and their traditional medicine and knowledge
”, and (paragraph 13) “
We commit ourselves to ensuring
that indigenous individuals have equal access to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health. We also commit ourselves to
intensifying efforts to reduce rates of HIV andAIDS, malaria, tuberculosis and non-communicable diseases by focusing on prevention, including
through appropriate programmes, policies and resources for indigenous individuals, and to ensure their access to sexual and reproductive health
and reproductive rights in accordance with the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development, the
BeijingPlatform for Actionand the outcomedocuments of their review conference
.”
Monitoring of theSDGsmust take into account the particular situation of indigenous persons, pursuant togoal 3.
Comments
This priority measure is complementary to the targets and indicators included in PM 26 on bringing health policies into line with the
epidemiological profile, andwith chapterD on “universal access to sexual and reproductive health services”, especiallyPMs 37, 40, 44 and 45, in
which the particular situation of indigenous women and peoples must be taken into account. Some of the indicators proposed need to be made
operational andmay entail developing instruments formeasuring them.
