Indigenous representative to the United Nations from 2011 to 2013, Nicaraguan Myrna Cunningham explains how she became associated with the field of health, about her studies in medicine in León (Nicaragua) and experience in Río Coco, where she began to connect Western medicine with the indigenous population.

A surgeon, Cunningham considers that it is necessary to recognize the benefits of indigenous health “often the only one that communities have,” and that work needs to continue to promote a comprehensive approach to health.  She also believes that certain sectors need to be empowered so as not to treat them paternalistically but rather “as subjects of human rights.”