The new Ecuadoran Constitution, approved in 2008, represents a watershed in the history of the nation. It articulates new relationships with the public-at-large as actors in social construction—the millennial cultures that make up this nation—and with the concept and right accorded to health itself.

The Constitution was the result of a National Constituent Assembly, mandated by 86% of voters in 2007. Assembly headquarters received some 70,000 people and heard from many more in visits throughout the country, finally processing 1600 proposals.[1] Indigenous and other progressive organizations advanced innovative ideas that the new Constitution introduced as pioneering paradigms, particularly in health and health care.