Perù
Runa Indigenous Communities of Alto Napo – Peruvian Amazon
The Runa Indigenous Communities of Alto Napo, located in the Peruvian Amazon rainforest, were the partners of PRO.DO.C.S.’s first international cooperation programme. The initiative was developed with the aim of supporting Runa communities in addressing their most pressing needs while promoting and protecting their rights to health, security, and food sovereignty.
In 1988, PRO.DO.C.S. launched a Community Medicine Programme, approved by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and initially established for a period of seven years, subsequently extended through two additional three-year phases. The programme was implemented in close collaboration with local communities, following an approach focused on strengthening local healthcare services and enhancing the skills, knowledge, and resources already present within the territory. The intervention supported vaccination campaigns, bilingual education initiatives, and the maintenance and renovation of local health posts, contributing to improved access to essential services for communities living in remote areas of the Amazon region.
Initially centred on healthcare support, the programme gradually evolved towards a more sustainable and long-term model by investing in the training of indigenous healthcare professionals. Through the provision of educational scholarships, PRO.DO.C.S. supported members of the Runa communities in pursuing professional healthcare studies, with the aim of enabling their future integration into local health facilities and strengthening community-based healthcare systems.
A particularly significant achievement of this long-standing collaboration was reached in 2025, when Edgar Jota Noteno, a member of the Runa community of Yarina, graduated in Nursing from the National University of Iquitos. He became the first qualified Runa nurse from his community, representing an important milestone in the empowerment of indigenous communities and in the development of locally rooted healthcare services.
