For the past 15 years NORDECO has provided technical assistance and supervision of the Indigenous Health Project in Peruvian Amazon. The Project began in 1993 and is carried out by the Interethnic Association for the Development of the Peruvian Rainforest (AIDESEP), and three regional indigenous organizations in the northeast Ucayali region of Peru. The project is funded by the Danish Karen Elise Jensen Fund.

The project is developing an indigenous health system based on the integration of western and indigenous knowledge and medical systems. The health system takes into account differences in conceptions and curing practices among different indigenous groups. The health system is a present being replicated in other parts of the Amazon.

The Project has developed a health career named Amazon Intercultural Health Professionals, which can be studied at the Higher Teaching Institute of Atalaya (ISTA), in Atalaya, Ucayali. The study, which includes extensive field practice with shamans and healers, has been officially approved and recognized by the Ministry of Health in Peru. The first class had twenty students from Ashaninka, Asheninka, Yine and Shipibo groups who completed the three years full time study in early 2008. They received their title and diploma at a graduation ceremony and the first class was named Karen Elise Jensen, in memory of the distinguished Danish doctor who gave name to the foundation.

A new documentary film produced by Masato Documentales from Argentina follows the young students during their hard training to become Amazonian intercultural health professionals. An excerpt from the documentary can be seen below. For more information please contact Project Advisor Thomas Skielboe ts@nordeco.dk