Santiago Santi, Naporuna indigenous community health worker from the Amazonian region of Ecuador

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Santiago Santi
Miguel San Sebastián

Abstract

Santiago Santi is an indigenous man from the Naporuna ethnic group in the Amazon region of Ecuador. He has been a volunteer Community Health Worker (CHW) for 30 years in his community of El Edén, Orellana Province, Ecuador. He has published his memoirs in a book entitled 'Sé de donde vengo, no sé a dónde voy' (I know where I come from, I don't know where I'm going). He is one of the founders of the 'Asociación de promotores de salud Naporunas Sandi Yura', which currently includes 120 indigenous community health workers from 58 communities in the provinces of Orellana and Sucumbíos. The association is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year and is the largest movement of CHWs in the country. Santiago reflects on his reasons for being a community health worker, the values that CHWs should have, the history of Sandi Yura, and where the organisation should focus in the future.

Article Details

How to Cite
1.
Santi S, San Sebastián M. Santiago Santi, Naporuna indigenous community health worker from the Amazonian region of Ecuador. J Community Syst Health [Internet]. 2024 Oct. 1 [cited 2024 Oct. 3];1(1). Available from: https://journals.ub.umu.se/index.php/jcsh/article/view/1070
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Author Biography

Miguel San Sebastián, Department of Epidemiology and Global Health, Umeå University, Sweden

I am a medical doctor with a MSc degree in control of infectious diseases and a Ph.D. degree in environmental epidemiology from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. I practiced public health during 12 years among Indigenous communities of the Amazon basin of Ecuador. Currently working as Professor in Public Health at the Department of Epidemiology and Global Health, Umeå university, teaching different courses (public health, epidemiology, social epidemiology) at Master and PhD level. My current research is focused on strengthening health systems in low-income countries and social inequalities in health in the Swedish context. I am also part of the Norrland´s Observatory for Equity in Health and Health Care (NOEHHC) and Lávvuo: Research and Education for Sámi Health.

References

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