There are a few different things going on with healthcare in the Wayanod region. The Adivasi people have forever used the herbal knowledge passed down through generations of people as their form of medicine. However, with the introduction of pesticides, the invasion of farms around them, and the displacement they experience their ways of healing ailments have changed. The plants they once used are either diminished or have disappeared along with the knowledge of how to use certain plants. Also, with the introduction of previously unknown chemicals unfamiliar diseases have spread to the indigenous people and they are often unable to combat them without modern medicinal practices and drugs. These people have been forcibly introduced to harmful chemicals and a style of farming that lowers and pollutes their water supply, making them dependent upon more modern practices.
When we met with a doctor of modern medicine at a hospital in a nearby town, he expressed a strong opinion that is supposedly common of other doctors of his stature. He completely devalued the herbal and non-western ways of curing and preventing ailments, saying they were “completely useless.” However, it seems to me that the doctor has forgotten that many drugs we use to treat illnesses and diseases have come from the herbal knowledge of how plants react with our bodies even though they have been chemically enhanced. I doubt we would need so many strong drugs if we hadn’t been using and exposing ourselves to such harmful chemicals as are found in pesticides and fertilizers to produce the best looking crops and profits. It seems as if globalization is a down hill spiral that, once introduced, must continue to be introduced because of the interconnectedness of the environment with the people and our symbiotic relationship with our surroundings. Just like the chemicals introduced can produce bugs that are more resistant and so harsher chemicals are needed, the more globalization that is introduced the more of it is needed to combat the effects of the original dosage.
So true your observation about your globalization being a downhill spiral. Is it fair for the Adivasi people to have to give up on their herbal remedies because a good chunk of the world has decided that they thought it was best to use pesticides and various chemicals? One has to wonder to what kind of impact has using all sorts of different chemicals on our crops and animals made on our lives? I read somewhere that girls develop sooner than they did a couple decades ago due to the various hormones in milk and meat that are more prevalent today.....
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