A donde quiera que voy me acuerdo de la mata de moriche Prácticas de salud en la transitividad migratoria de indígenas warao en Belém, Pará

Abstract

The presence of indigenous Warao in the Venezuelan migratory flow in Brazil has generated controversies regarding health care for this group. The therapeutic trajectories of people in migratory transit show different nuances in health care during migration phases. This research identifies search factors and access to health care practices of Warao families in the city of Belém, Pará, in the north of Brazil. Research was conducted through participant observation in social assistance activities and in activities of the Consultório na Rua (“mobile medical services”), and through the narrated experiences of people who prefer to live outside the shelters. This work shows that the health care provided by the mobile medical services, therapy with Warao shamans (Wisiratu and Joarotu), therapy with ensalmists, self-medication (use of pharmaceutical drugs and home remedies), the preference for the home birth, the rejection of medical procedures, and the search for adequate food are practices that are part of Warao health care in their migratory transitivity in Belém. However, this work identifies that labor exclusion, lack of access to information and guidance from health services, little interaction of Warao migrants with health centers (Basic Health Units), among others, are factors that also intervene in under use of health services. Some recommendations are provided to redirect Warao access to the health services of the municipality. In addition, research highlighted that the permanence in Belém and the possible return to lands with extractivist processes are phases of the migratory trajectory that should continue to be discussed with respect to the irruption of the right to health as a common good for this indigenous people and their lives who were forced into displacement and marginalization.