Health and Well-being Practices among the Indigenous Groups in the Philippines: An Ethnographic Review

Even now, there are still disparities in well-being between indigenous and non-indigenous populations, according to the perspective of non-indigenous people. Despite the Indigenous Peoples' Rights Act (IPRA) being passed in 1997, ethnicity was not considered in the census. As a result of the Philippines' removal of IPs from official public statistics, they are effectively unable to participate more effectively in society. In addition, it shows how persistently different IPs' access to basic services, such as health care, is. It's not clear how large this disparity is, because few studies have been done on ethnocultural disparities. IPs remains unacknowledged, unaccounted for, and hence untapped, making it difficult to formulate a national policy on health disparity initiatives. Because of their customs, cultural beliefs, and traditions, indigenous people are more likely to engage in health-risk behaviors than non-indigenous people. These activities have a direct effect on their health outcomes. It is because of this that many individuals have no idea about the health of the IP community. Health Anthropologists are exploring for links between disease patterns, health-related beliefs and practices, healing systems and cultural structures, social hierarchies, and biosocial linkages, amongst other things.