This paper analyzes the level of inclusion of indigenous traditional knowledge about traditional medicine in Mexican medical training, showing an angle of the place that maintains cultural diversity in higher education nationally. Using a quantitative, cross-sectional, exploratory and descriptive design, instruments were applied to survey the 85 institutions registered with the Mexican Association of Colleges and Schools of Medicine (known by its Spanish acronym AMFEM); the data were analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively. Of these institutions, only 27.05% include teaching about traditional medicine in 36 subjects related to the topic, 50% of which is optional, 41.66% of short duration, 52.62% with few credit hours and, in some cases, with a pejorative orientation. It is noted that the area of the Mexican medical education reflects a broader political problem of asymmetry and inequality between stakeholders and their knowledge, so that the rejection of indigenous traditional knowledge in the Mexican medical education is only a reflection of the many other places where these groups, and their knowledge, have been excluded before.

No abstract

This paper analyzes the social inequities lived by the Mexican indigenous population beginning from its condition as a minority group, focusing particularly on the case of health, it being understood that it reflects the conditions that are in other spheres of the social structure. As such, with a design of quantitative nature and an explorative scope, during the period of November 2012 through October 2013, a diagnostic assessment was conducted on the situation experienced by the Mexican indigenous population, utilizing a methodology of ethnic focus proposed by the Pan American Health Organization, finding that such group presents notable disadvantages and inequities in the distinct main topics that are integrated in the analysis, which contrasts it with the recorded data of the non-indigenous population of the country. The previously stated allows confirming that in Mexico the ethnic origin factor is a determining aspect for the living social inequities and affects the conformation of the minority groups.

<p>En México la interculturalidad en salud se plantea como una política ideal para la atención sanitaria de la población indígena; sin embargo, esta implica la convergencia de dos sistemas de conocimiento, lo cual permite interrogar su implementación. Desde una perspectiva antropológica, se analizó la pertinencia de la interculturalidad en salud en una zona de cobertura médica indígena. Mediante un abordaje <em>etnográfico mixto </em>se aplicaron 35 cuestionarios al personal médico del Hospital General de Ciudad Valles entre agosto del 2012 y enero del 2013. Los datos se analizaron con estadística descriptiva y se complementaron con entrevistas a profundidad y observación participante. Se encontró que existe una valoración del conocimiento tradicional indígena (77 %) y las plantas medicinales (80 %) dentro de la práctica médica alópata, porque la mayoría de médicos (89 %) recibió pacientes que los habían utilizado, así que consideran pertinente la implementación de una política sanitaria que integre el conocimiento tradicional indígena a la práctica médica alópata.</p>