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50. Despite this critical role, community-regulated indigenous midwifery is often
undermined and actively criminalized, to the detriment of the health of indigenous
peoples. To close the gap between indigenous and non-indigenous health outcomes,
the practice of indigenous midwifery must be supported by state health policy and
integration. The right of indigenous peoples to self-determination extends to their
reproductive health, and States should put an end to the criminalization of indigenous
midwifery and make the necessary legislative and regulatory amendments to
legitimize indigenous midwives who are recognized by their communities as health care providers. States should also support the education of new traditional indigenous
midwives via multiple routes of education, including apprenticeship s and the oral
transmission of knowledge.
51. The Permanent Forum reiterates previous recommendations that WHO, the
United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and UNFPA, as well as regional health
organizations and Governments, fully incorporate a cultural perspective into health
policies and programmes and reproductive health services aimed at providing
indigenous women with quality health care, including emergency obstetric care,
voluntary family planning and skilled attendance at birth. The roles of tradi tional
midwives should be re-evaluated and expanded so that they may assist indigenous
women during their reproductive health processes and act as cultural brokers between
health systems and indigenous peoples.
52. The Permanent Forum recommends that the WHO End TB Strategy and the
Global Partnership to Stop Tuberculosis, in collaboration with UNFPA, PAHO and
the Inter-Agency Support Group on Indigenous Peoples’ Issues, organize an expert
group meeting on tuberculosis by 2020 to analyse the sociocultural an d economic
determinants of health for the prevention, care and treatment of tuberculosis in
indigenous communities, with the cooperation of the Forum, in order to ensure the
realization of target 3 of Sustainable Development Goal 3. The Forum also
recommends the review of the Moscow Declaration to End TB, which considers
indigenous peoples to be disproportionately affected by tuberculosis.
53. The Permanent Forum appreciates the steps taken by the Joint United Nations
Programme on HIV/AIDS, UNFPA and the Inter-Agency Support Group on
Indigenous Peoples’ Issues for the organization of an international workshop on
indigenous peoples and HIV/AIDS, and calls on Member States and United Nations
entities to contribute to the workshop.
54. The Permanent Forum is concerned that, across the globe, indigenous women
and adolescents face persistent inequalities and stigma, especially in relation to
maternal health and maternal mortality, yet the lack of data in this area renders them
invisible and presents a major barrier to efforts to address the issue. Indigenous
women are overwhelmingly less likely to have received health-care services.
Indigenous women are three times more likely to have had no antenatal care and twice
as likely to give birth without a skilled birth attendant, and have a significantly higher
adolescent birth rate. This is directly related to the poverty, discrimination and
marginalization that indigenous women frequently face.
55. The Permanent Forum welcomes the study presented by UNFPA, in
collaboration with CHIRAPAQ (Centro de Culturas Indígenas del Perú), entitled
“Progress and challenges regarding the recommendations of the Forum on sexual and
reproductive health and rights and gender-based violence”.
56. The Permanent Forum invites UNFPA to make efforts to disseminate the
findings of the study at the global, regional and country levels among Member States,
United Nations mechanisms and indigenous organizations. The Forum also invites
UNFPA to engage in concerted dialogue with the nine Member States that were part
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