Intermedicality and differentiated care: asymmetries and Challenges in the Encounter of Sciences in the Indigenous Health Care Subsystem (SasiSUS) of the Xukuru do Ororubá People

Abstract

The healing science of the Xukuru do Ororubá people, who live in the state of Pernambuco (Brazil), is the science of the forest—a centuries-old practice present in the traditional therapeutics of this Indigenous territory. In contrast, the predominant science in Indigenous health policies within the Indigenous Health Care Subsystem (SasiSUS) is Western biomedicine. How can such distinct realities coexist in dialogue? This article aims to reflect on the different and overlapping layers underlying Indigenous health policies and their implementation through SasiSUS, considering everyday life, its universe of experiences, and strategies aimed at differentiated care as a path toward therapeutic proximity dialogues through the promotion of intermedicality. The cultural differences present and imposed by technical health practices are factors that reinforce and reproduce asymmetries and unilateral therapeutic perspectives. The reflections shared here should be regarded as preliminary within a research context that, although now in a new phase, remains ongoing with the holders of local traditional knowledge and Indigenous Health Agents (AIS) to further develop this theoretical field on interculturality in health, with medicinal flora as a driving and transformative element.