Since 2007, The Jungle Mamas Program has been working in solidarity with the indigenous Achuar women and men of the Ecuadorian Amazon in safe birthing and basic community health. Our team of dedicated midwives works to train birth attendants in prevention, treatment of birth emergencies and basic health issues, with an intercultural approach that also values local healing and birth traditions. In addition to post-partum hemorrhage, diarrhea from water contamination is one of the biggest threats to the health of Achuar women and children. We have been working with communities to reduce water and soil contamination through ecological dry toilets. Using the knowledge and practice necessary, Achuar women are able to provide their people with the most culturally adequate healthcare available.

Problema

Since 2007, The Jungle Mamas Program has been working in solidarity with the indigenous Achuar women and men of the Ecuadorian Amazon in safe birthing and basic community health. Our team of dedicated midwives works to train birth attendants in prevention, treatment of birth emergencies and basic health issues, with an intercultural approach that also values local healing and birth traditions. In addition to post-partum hemorrhage, diarrhea from water contamination is one of the biggest threats to the health of Achuar women and children. We have been working with communities to reduce water and soil contamination through ecological dry toilets. Using the knowledge and practice necessary, Achuar women are able to provide their people with the most culturally adequate healthcare available.

Solución

The Jungle Mamas Program is the first of its kind to address the indigenous health in the South Central region of the Ecuadorian Amazon that uses the empowerment of women as the key solution to improving well-being of the Achuar people. By training indigenous Achuar women and men in safe birthing and basic health, Jungle Mamas is not only reducing maternal and infant mortality, but also providing communities with the tools they need to solve health issues from within their territory, thus reducing dependence upon hospitals that are poorly staffed, uneasily accessible, and culturally inadequate in practice. Jungle Mamas is an intercultural program in that it respects cultural birth traditions and health practices, while simultaneously providing useful information from other midwifery traditions and basic health approaches from the United States, Mexico, and Denmark. Our most recent Safe Birth and Family Health workshop in September was successfully facilitated by 3 Achuar women, trained as birth attendants in the native language of Achuar Chicham, which is opening up the doors to more workshops within the territory facilitated by empowered Achuar women. The Achuar name of the program, Ikiama Nukuri, or Women as Keepers of the Forest, emphasizes the invaluable role that women play in the protection and health of the Amazon Rainforest and the Achuar people. Jungle Mamas is the first program in the Ecuadorian Amazon that has recognized that the health of the planet and its rainforests is inextricably linked and dependent upon the women and men who live within it.

Ejemplo

Jungle Mamas’ primary activities are conducting Safe Birthing and Family Health workshops, using critical awareness and participatory learning methodologies, training individuals in planning, prevention, and treatment of birth emergencies. We have designed a curriculum that is culturally adequate that consists of an easily understandable picture-card teaching booklet especially designed for the native Achuar speaker. For individuals committed to improving the health of their communities, Jungle Mamas collaborates and facilitates the training of skilled birth attendants by providing in-depth apprenticeships outside of the community in a high-volume birth clinic. Skilled birth attendants are trained in the use and implementation of safe birth kits, which includes the necessary materials for attending a birth, including misoprostol, which can save the life of a mother during a post-partum hemorrhage. Having identified water and soil contamination as the two primary causes of illness and infant mortality, Jungle Mamas has been working with community leaders and the local Achuar women’s association to educate and build capacities in the importance sanitation and have worked towards improving the local water system. In an effort to reduce infant mortality caused by contamination and water-borne diseases, Jungle Mamas is also collaborating with three Achuar communities in the education and implementation of a pilot ecological urine-diverting dry toilet project.

Mercado

There are approximately 6,500 Achuar people living in the Ecuadorian Amazon, whose ancestral lands spread across nearly 2 million acres of primary rainforest. Early in the 20th century, the Ecuadorian Government granted oil concessions in the rainforest, which also opened the door for other resource extractive activities. The Achuar territory had an advantage due to its proximity deep inside the jungle and lack of access via roads. Achuar leaders initiated a partnership creating The Pachamama Alliance and it's sister organization based in Ecuador, Fundación Pachamama. The Achuar people have a history of being warriors, meaning that contact with the western world did not officially take place until the 1960s upon arrival of Missionaries, who built airstrips within the territory, increasing the access from the outside. As there are currently no roads into the territory, the only way to access Achuar territory is via canoe or airplane.This means that access to cities and hospitals is significantly limited to the Achuar. In the past, the Achuar were nomads and moved around periodically within the territory. With the introduction of airstrips, people settled in communities and began heavily populating one area, thus putting pressure on the surrounding environment by contaminating water and soil resources. Traditionally, Achuar women gave birth by themselves in the forest without the assistance of a birth attendant or even their mothers. This change in community lifestyle has negatively impacted maternal, child, and overall community health of the Achuar people.