Perceptions of afrodescendant communities from Medellin about the health-illness process; 2009-2010

El estudio buscaba identificar las percepciones del proceso salud enfermedad de las comunidades afrodescendientes de Medellín-Colombia. Materiales y métodos: Muestreo: teórico y por conveniencia. Tipo de estudio: descriptivo-exploratorio. Técnica: 13 Grupos Focales de Discusión, 10 entrevistas a estudiosos de las comunidades. Hallazgos: Se encontró relación entre enfermedad y destierro. Se reporta la violencia contra la mujer y los problemas del desarrollo de la niñez como principales focos de enfermedad. El manejo de la enfermedad se realiza a través de la cura con secreto. Conclusiones: se encontró un bajo conocimiento en cuanto a los derechos en salud y la exigibilidad de los mismos de manera personal y colectiva. Las comunidades poseen sistemas de curación personal y comunitaria, donde a través del sincretismo entre la religión católica y el paganismo enfrentan las enfermedades. Se observa alta credibilidad en estas prácticas de curación. Las mujeres reportan ser víctimas de violencia en las familias y al mismo tiempo son el agente dinamizador del cuidado y de las practicas de salud dentro de la comunidad. La trasmisión cultural de la cura con secreto se va difuminando en el tiempo, no contiene en si misma un protocolo claro para su difusión comunitaria; posee dentro de sí misma formas de jerarquización, convirtiéndose igualmente en un bien comunitario solo para algunos. To Identify perceptions about the process of health-illness of afrodescendant communities from Medellin (Colombia). Materials and methods: Materials and Methods: Sampling: Theory and convenience. This research followed the descriptive exploratory type of study. There were carried out 13 focus group discussions, 10 interviews with scholars from communities and 6 communitary workshops. Results: A relationship between disease and banishment was found. Expulsion increases illness in the psycho-social dimension; in this way hurting besides being rooted in the body, its branches become into mental and socio-affectionate affections. For instance, when a person is forced to renounce to the millenarian symbolic universe that the interment andnovena of a loved person encompass. Violence against women and problems of child development as major outbreaks of disease are reported. The disease management is through cure with secret (bewitched). Conclusion: A low knowledge was found in the afrodescendant population regarding health rights and the enforceability of personal and collective way. It was also found that, communities have systems of personal and communitarian healing, where through syncretism between Catholicism and paganism diseases are faced. Besides that, a high credibility is observed in these healing practices. According to the study, women report being victims of violence in families Vand at the same time are the boost for the care and health practices in the community and in their families. The cultural transmission of secret cure fades away in time, it has within itself, forms of hierarchy, also becoming a community asset only for some