The Permanent Forum, reaffirming the recommendations on health made at its first, second and third sessions, further recommends that all relevant United Nations entities, especially WHO, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and UNFPA, as well as regional health organizations and Governments, fully incorporate a cultural perspective into health policies, programmes and reproductive health services aimed at providing indigenous women with quality health care, including emergency obstetric care, voluntary family planning and skilled attendance at birth. In the latter context, the roles of traditional midwives should be re-evaluated and expanded so that they may assist indigenous women during their reproductive health processes and act as cultural brokers between health systems and the indigenous communities’ values and world views
The Permanent Forum calls upon the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the Inter-Agency Support Group on Indigenous Peoples’ Issues to organize, by 2021, in-country dialogues that will feed into a global expert group meeting on indigenous peoples and HIV/AIDS, with the aim of proposing key principles of action for HIV/AIDS programming, and urges States, in collaboration with indigenous peoples, to contribute to this initiative.
The Permanent Forum urges the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) to engage with the Permanent Forum and other partners in the global AIDS movement, to initiate universal access to treatment, to develop a set of resources highlighting effective approaches and best practices for HIV prevention and AIDS care in indigenous communities, particularly from the developed world, including the development of an appropriate paper to provide guidance to national HIV surveillance systems, and to advocate and promote meaningful participation of indigenous peoples in HIV policy and planning
The Permanent Forum welcomes efforts by Member States to organize specific vaccine programmes for indigenous peoples and encourages the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, Gavi Alliance, WHO and the United Nations Children’s Fund, in their administration of the COVID-19 Vaccine Global Access (COVAX) Facility, to ensure that indigenous peoples are uniquely included in vaccine dissemination efforts. Given the disproportionate effect of the COVID-19 virus on the mortality of indigenous peoples in many countries, the Forum underlines the urgency of ensuring that all indigenous peoples are uniquely considered in vaccine planning and distribution. Due attention should also be given to indigenous peoples affected by conflict and post-conflict situations and complex humanitarian emergencies.
The Forum urges WHO to attend its sessions, and encourages WHO to submit a report to it at its fourth session, responding to recommendations made by the Forum at its first to third sessions. The Forum regrets that WHO was unable to respond to its recommendations made at its second session, in particular those contained in chapter I, section B, paragraphs 16, 63-64, 68, 74, 79 and 82.