Nurs Health Care Perspect. 1998 Jul-Aug; 19(4): 178-85.

Traditional medicine in Belize. The original primary health care.

Chanecka EJ.

University of Calgary School of Nursing, Alberta, Canada.

While completing the clinical portion of my bachelor's in nursing degree in southern Belize in Central America, I had the unique opportunity to converse with and observe traditional healers in their natural surroundings, lush rain forests abounding with medicinal plants. The rain forests play a vital role in the lives of the several thousand Mopan and Ketchi Maya who live in southern Belize. Their strong cultural identity is rooted in tradition, especially among the older generations.