If Quechua isn't allowed on any traditional or digital media when talking about medicine, then, by using our packaging to reach the isolated Quechua (non-Spanish) speakers in a respectful and legal way, we are creating a whole new medium.

Ecuador has more than 2 million Quichua speakers that die from common diseases every year. These indigenous communities rely on Ancestral Medicine and have distanced themselves from modern medicine because there's a law that prohibits healthcare-related products from being in a language other than Spanish.

Even though ancestral medicine can provide relief, it’s not very effective against more serious conditions.

We needed to find a new media that wouldn't break the Ecuadorian Regulation on Medicines Advertisement law, which didn't allow us to explain in Quechua (only in Spanish) how modern medicine works. We found the media we needed in our packaging.

We created an instant image-based translation for Quechua speakers in the packaging of our generic drugs. We paired the plants they use with the medicines that have the same but improved effect and printed them in our packaging for them to understand and take a better care of their health.

We approached the small but numerous indigenous communities and worked with their leaders (shamans) to create an accurate and respectful design. Communities were part of the selection, investigation, and promotion of the idea. With their help, we understood the medical function of each plant and created an instant relation between each of them to modern generic drugs.

We identified the main and most influential communities whose only language was Quichua. By working with the leaders, we designed each packaging, so we could transmit a clear message that would improve their health without breaking the law.

After testing it with small groups in each community we printed the new packages and sent them to our local drug stores, medical centers, shamans/educational households, and any other touchpoint where the community might need health assistance.

Shamans helped us spread the word while we shared educational material in Quichua that drove people in the community to take care of their health with generic drugs for the first time.

After the arrival of Ancestral Translation, a survey was generated, that showed a greater acceptance of modern medicine by the members of the communities. A result that was shortly proved right due to a growing demand for the generic drugs with the image-based translation to our local drug stores, medical centers, and shamans/educational households in the small indigenous communities.

As of today, several members of these communities have taken this campaign to the Ecuadorian Ministry of Public Health creating a debate that could hopefully end in the abolishment of the current Ecuadorian Regulation on Medicines Advertisement law.