Interculturality in the daily routine of primary health care: The case of the health model in Guainía, Colombia

Abstract Colombia is currently implementing a new health model, which is being tested initially in a region of the Amazon, with the main objective of primary health care with an intercultural approach. It is a cut of a doctoral thesis outlined by the case study methodology, which aimed to understand the daily construction process of primary health care from the perspective of indigenous and health professionals in Guainía, Colombia. Twenty-two indigenous users and 26 health professionals participated in the study, as well as three key participants. The data were collected through semi-structured interviews and direct observation, and were later transcribed and analyzed by Bardin’s thematic content analysis technique. The results show that interculturality, as a permanent process of negotiations and articulations present in the daily lives of indigenous and health professionals, is a fundamental part of the construction of primary health care in Guainía. In it materializes the encounter and exchange of heterogeneous forms of thinking-knowledge, that allow new interpretations and reinventions of knowledge and practices in health, although this process is permeated by conflicts, ambiguities, asymmetries and contradictions.