“Agüitas y sopitas”: Mothers’ knowledge, perceptions, and practices of traditional home remedies and medicinal foods in the northern Andes

Populations in the northern Ecuadorian highlands have experienced profound nutritional, economic, medical, and agricultural change in the past several decades.  Little is known about what traditional knowledge and practices are being lost as the nation pursues a “citizen revolution” of progress and development based on expert knowledge.  This ethnographic study explores mothers’ knowledge and perceptions of local home remedies in a rural village in the province of Carchi.  Participant observation, semi-structured interviews, and free listing provide evidence of a wide breadth of local and commercial medicinal plants and foods used by mothers in the home.  Mothers take a pluralistic approach to health care, treating at home with available remedies, visiting specialized indigenous healers, and, if those prove ineffective and resources allow, consulting medical doctors.  Interventions based on these results will focus on empowering local women to maintain positive nutritional and medical practices in the home.