Health Care as Commons: Rediscovering Indigenous Health Systems to Improve the Well-being of the Orang Asli in Malaysia

In many countries, indigenous peoples suffer poorer health compared with the rest of the population. The reasons for this health disparity are a higher burden of disease, poverty, oppression and historical marginalisation. Efforts to close this health gap through modern health systems have largely plateaued and a broader understanding of indigenous health systems is needed. Through an ethnographic study of Malaysia’s Orang Asli traditional health care system, this thesis postulates that indigenous peoples organise their health systems more comprehensively that is based on the Commons and that this may provide the key to closing the health disparity gap.