Fig. 1

Resilience of the Andean infant health system. The public health system is represented in the blue circle and includes growth monitoring and dietary and behavioral recommendations introduced by maternal and child health initiatives of the Peruvian Ministry of Public Health in 2004. In this system, public health personnel are experts and policies and recommendations are based on scientific evidence. The Andean system, represented by the yellow circle, illustrates the existence of a traditional corpus of knowledge surrounding infant feeding and care consistent with Andean ethnomedical knowledge including the importance of dietary balance and maintaining harmony with elements in the natural environment. Within the Andean system, mothers are acknowledged as experience-based experts and respond to infant cues such as weakness, hunger, and cries. The two systems share themes including that breast milk is valued as both food and medicine and the knowledge that health and diet are intricately linked. However, there are also tensions between the two systems. The green shape at the bottom represents a resilient Andean infant health system. In the context of change, the Andean system has maintained key cultural elements while incorporating key public health recommendations. This figure was designed by the authors in response to the discussion presented in this manuscript