Colombia regulates the authorization to administer the indigenous SISPI

The Ministry of Health and Social Protection has regulated the minimum contents that indigenous territories must present to request the health authorization that allows them to administer, plan, manage, and operate the Indigenous Own and Intercultural Health System (SISPI). This is established by Resolution number 001592 of 2026, signed on July 30 and published in Official Gazette number 53,614 on September 3, 2026.

The regulation develops Article 14 of Decree Law 480 of 2025, which defines the requirements for indigenous peoples, under the principle of voluntariness, to assume health competencies and responsibilities in their territories. The administrative act was signed by Minister Guillermo Alfonso Jaramillo Martínez and is effective as of its publication.

A model agreed upon with indigenous peoples

The resolution is the result of a consultation process with the authorities and delegates of the Indigenous Health Subcommittee of the Permanent Consultation Table (MPC), within the framework of Decrees 1973 of 2013 and 1397 of 1996. The project was submitted for public consultation for fifteen days, between June 27 and July 12, 2026, through the Ministry’s website.

The text is based on ILO Convention 169, approved by Law 21 of 1991, and Statutory Law 1751 of 2015, which recognize interculturality and the protection of indigenous peoples as essential elements of the fundamental right to health.

Documents that territories must present

To obtain the authorization, the Council or Own Government structure of the indigenous territory must provide the documents provided for in literals a) to e) of Article 14 of Decree Law 480 of 2025:

• Minutes of the Council or Own Government structure stating the will to request the administration of the SISPI.
• Census lists issued by indigenous authorities, with a cutoff no more than twelve months prior to the filing.
• Minutes of the designation of the legal representative of the indigenous territory, according to the Government period.
• Minutes defining the territorial scope, in accordance with current regulations and the jurisprudence of the Constitutional Court.
• A document recording the model, process, or form of own, intercultural, and life-care health care.

Contents of the care model

The resolution details the contents that the care model document must include, among them the objective, the description of the scope of services, the definition of the territorial approach, and the subjects of care. It also requires the definition of own and intercultural health structures, the Own and Intercultural Primary Health Care strategy, and the mechanisms for monitoring, follow-up, and evaluation.

Additionally, territories that present an already developed model must attach the document for the calculation of the comprehensive costs of the SISPI, based on the criteria agreed upon within the framework of Article 44 of Decree Law 480 of 2025. The Ministry will provide technical assistance without substituting the autonomy of the indigenous territory.

Impact on sanitary autonomy

The regulation constitutes a key step toward the sanitary autonomy of indigenous peoples by establishing clear and agreed-upon criteria so that territories can assume the management of their own health. This materializes the right of peoples to define their development priorities and to administer their care models, in coordination with the General Social Security System in Health.

Source: Official Gazette (Colombia), number 53,614, September 3, 2026, pp. 28-29 (official reference: Resolution number 001592 of 2026).