“Universal or selectively coordinated healthcare for Mapuche indigenous peoples?”

This paper attempts to handle the concept of “health care for all” from the perspective of the special populations: the Mapuche Indigenous people. We share with Argentina common Independence wars against Spain; Liberator Jose de San Martin and Bernardo O’Higgins in Chile helped to rid the Spanish conquistador forever. Each nation-state however, had to come to terms with the Mapuche people that lived on both sides of the border. Their defeat was also the beginning of their struggle for survival as a culture and identity. This research paper focuses the discussion of health care systems into three main questions: Healthcare for all (Universal health care?) To what extent universal health systems are sensitive to ancestral cultures and needs? A second question deals with accessibility and timeliness availability of healthcare for all. How does primary preventive health meet the needs of maternal needs of indigenous families? A third concern opens the question about the relationship of primary health and curative medicine provided within the Hospital Backbone System which has oversight onto the administration of complex hospitals. To assess the first question morbidity and mortality, health

data will be provided to test comparative rates (Risk Ratios) between Mapuche and non-Mapuche patients and establish whether statistical differences exist by age, gender and ethnicity. To assess the second question this research will test maternal healthcare of Mapuche population and verify perinatal mortality as a proxy of accessibility. The data should help to discover perinatal mortality rates between Mapuche and non-Mapuche mothers and the extent that faraway residence within indigenous reservations explains higher perinatal mortality among Mapuche mothers. The final area of discussion links directly to the question of transformation of healthcare systems and how coordination between primary health systems and curative medicine provided by the Hospital backbone.