Paper short abstract:

The paper analyses indigenous women’s birth experiences in public hospitals of Northern Brazil (2022–2023) to explore, from an anthropological and decolonial perspective, the challenges in implementing the differentiated model of health care for Indigenous Peoples proscribed in National Policy.

Paper long abstract:

The National Policy for Health Care for Indigenous Peoples (Brazil, 2002) establishes the country's commitment to ensuring health care for indigenous peoples in line with their cultural practices, recognizing the relevance of a differentiated approach to meeting the specific needs of these communities. However, the effective implementation of this policy faces considerable challenges. Given this context, the article in question carries out a critical analysis of the implementation of the National Policy for Health Care for Indigenous Peoples in public maternity hospitals in the North of Brazil. The focus of this analysis is on the perspectives and experiences of indigenous women who used hospital birth services in the period between May 2022 and March 2023, covering the end of the third wave of Covid-19 and the beginning of the fourth wave in Brazil. Adopting an anthropological and decolonial approach, the qualitative exploratory research included 13 interviews with women from the Macuxi (RR), Wapixana (RR), Patamona (RR), Munduruku (PA) and Suruí (RO) ethnicities. Results indicate that the differentiated model of indigenous health care faces significant challenges when it comes to the care offered in public maternity hospitals in the North of the country, demonstrating that the effective promotion of this model has not yet been achieved, highlighting the need for improvements to better meet the specific demands of indigenous women.