The incorporation of interculturality in the training of health professionals: a systematic review

Abstract

The training of health professionals has developed under the predominance of a biomedical rationality that tends to exclude traditional, indigenous, and community-based medical knowledge, despite the growing cultural diversity of Latin American societies. The objective of this systematic review was to analyze the available empirical evidence on the incorporation of interculturality into the curricula of university health science programs, in order to identify the main strengths, weaknesses, and formative gaps reported in the literature, as well as the pedagogical and curricular strategies proposed for its strengthening. Following the PRISMA 2020 statement and the eligibility criteria of the PICO model, a search was conducted in Scopus, Dialnet, Redalyc, LILACS, and SciELO, yielding 28 studies with primary empirical data, published between 2020 and 2025. The results, organized through a narrative synthesis into four thematic categories, showed that interculturality has been incorporated predominantly in a declarative manner into institutional normative frameworks, without translating, in most cases, into an effective transformation of curricular content; likewise, transversal and sustained training experiences were identified, along with moderate levels of intercultural competence and sensitivity among students and faculty, and persistent structural barriers in care for indigenous, migrant, and Afro-descendant populations. It is concluded that curricular transformation toward a critical and effective interculturality requires strategies that transcend the declarative incorporation of isolated content, moving instead toward transversal curricular devices built in direct dialogue with communities.