“I pray to the pill so it will heal me”: pharmaceutical intermedicality in a Guarani community in northern Argentina

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to describe the access, use, and meaning of pharmaceuticals in an indigenous Guaraní community in the northern province of Salta, Argentina. The research, based on an ethnographic approach, examines how pharmaceutical intermedicality is constructed—that is, the interaction of  different health care systems, involving a range of actors such
as doctors, nurses, and  pharmacists—in a context of
unequal access to health services. The article, based
on pharmaceutical  anthropology, concludes that people combine different treatments and prioritize the use of antibiotics and injectables based on their condition.