28 Mar 2009

ECUADOR / CHILDBIRTH

Ecuador has a population of 13 million people, where nearly one million are indigenous. Many live in remote areas, and women face an especially high risk of dying from complications while practicing traditional childbirth techniques at home. Although the government passed a law giving women free maternal healthcare, often, they delay going to the hospital until it’s too late. UNTV / UNFPA

Posted at: March 28, 2009 12:27 am

Duration: 04:46

Available in: SD

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Full script

STORY: ECUADOR / CHILDBIRTH 
TRT: 4.46 
SOURCE: UNFPA / UNTV PRODUCTIONS 
RESTRICTIONS: NONE 
LANGUAGE: SPANISH / ENGLISH / NATS

DATELINE: NOVEMBER – OCTOBER 2008, ECUADOR

SHOTLIST:

NOVEMBER – OCTOBER 2008, ECUADOR

1. Various shots, Ecuadorian Amazon jungle 
2. Various shots, woman in jungle making her way through with a machete 
3. Various shots, hut made out of banana leaves 
4. Med shot, woman inside hut sitting in a hammock 
5. Med shot, woman showing indigenous birth giving technique 
6. Med shot, Mariela giving birth 
7. Various shots, street scenes with women   
8. Various shots, Alba with other women in a boat   
9. Various shots, still of Alba and friend 
10. Various shots, Alba with other women in a boat   
11. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Alba Peralta, mother: 
"Life experiences have taught me that it's my obligation to tell women they should go to a health centre because not only are their lives in danger, but their baby's as well."   
12. Various shots, Alba and Mariela with other women in a boat 
13. Various shots, view of huts in the jungle from boat

OCTOBER – NOVEMBER 2008, PALMA ROJA, ECUADOR

14. Med shot, group of women descending from the boat 
15. Various shots, group of women walking towards a hut 
16. Med shot, Mariela with her mother taking birth giving position 
17. Various shots, Alba with Mariela 
18. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Mariela Grefa, pregnant woman: 
"I am scared to go to hospital because I know that sometimes when women cannot give birth the normal way, doctors open you up."   
19. Various shots, women carrying two children walking in jungle 
20. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Lily Rodriguez, UNFPA Representative, Ecuador 
"When women arrive in hospitals, they have to go through a practice that is completely different from their culture." 
21. Wide shot, Lily Rodriguez in a hospital 
22. Various shots, women waiting in hospital 
23. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Lily Rodriguez, UNFPA Representative, Ecuador: 
 "In an unfamiliar environment and in a language they do not understand, and that's why they resist going to the hospital." 
24. Various shots, women waiting in hospital 
25. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Dr. Alfredo Amores, Director of the Orellana Provincial Health Department: 
"I asked a young mother, 'why don't you go to the hospital?'  And she said, 'because we are raped.'" 
26. Wide shot, Dr. Amores with women at hospital 
27. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Dr. Alfredo Amores, Director of the Orellana Provincial Health Department: 
 "If they open your legs and put their hands inside you without asking, what do you make of that?  For an indigenous woman, this is tremendously offensive."   
28. Various shots, women in hospital 
29. Various shots, midwives with pregnant woman

NOVEMBER – OCTOBER 2008, OTAVALO, ECUADOR

30. Various shots, Otavalo town 
31. Wide shot, vertical birth giving waiting room 
32. Various shots, vertical birth giving 
33. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Lily Rodriguez, UNFPA Representative, Ecuador: 
"What's being done is the recognition of the Declaration on the Rights of the Indigenous Peoples which says that they have the rights to be taken care of according to their culture, and world view." 
34. Pan left, indigenous women with their babies at hospital 
35. Various shots, Alba in canoe

STORYLINE:

According to a myth of the Hoarani people in Ecuador, pregnant women died giving birth because the only way for their babies to be born was for their husbands to cut open their bellies.

But one day – the myth goes – a mouse appeared and told a pregnant woman to throw a rope over a beam in the ceiling, get down on her knees, tap her body with a palm stick, and push the baby out.

Today, this technique is called Vertical Birth, and indigenous women continue to follow this traditional practice at home.

Ecuador has 13 million people, and nearly one million are indigenous.  Many live in remote areas, and their women face especially high risk of dying from complications in childbirth at home.  Often, they delay going to the hospital until it's too late.

Alba Peralta, once a firm believer of traditional home birth, is now on a campaign to convince rural women to give birth at hospitals.

While she survived the birth of three children, all born at home, she nearly died when she gave birth to a stillborn child. That was a turning point in her life.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Alba Peralta, mother: 
"Life experiences have taught me that it's my obligation to tell women they should go to a health centre because not only are their lives in danger, but their baby's as well."

Today, Alba and a team of community health promoters, supported by the UN Population Fund, UNFPA, are going to one of the five hundred communities along the Napo River.

Palma Roja is a tiny hamlet of 30 indigenous families. The nearest facility is 60 miles away in Coca, the capital of Orellana Province.

18-year-old Mariela Grefa is pregnant with her first child.  Her mother is coaching her in the traditional way of childbirth.

Alba is trying to persuade her to go to the hospital.  But Mariela is reluctant.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Mariela Grefa, pregnant woman: 
"I am scared to go to hospital because I know that sometimes when women cannot give birth the normal way, doctors open you up."

To most indigenous women, western medicine is not only unfamiliar, but also frightening.

SOUNDBITE (English) Lily Rodriguez, UNFPA Representative, Ecuador: 
"When women arrive in hospitals, they have to go through a practice that is completely different from their culture."

Lily Rodriguez, Deputy Representative of UNFPA in Ecuador.

SOUNDBITE (English) Lily Rodriguez, UNFPA Representative, Ecuador: 
 "In an unfamiliar environment, and in a language they do not understand, and that's why they resist going to the hospital."

SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Dr. Alfredo Amores, Director of the Orellana Provincial Health Department: 
"I asked a young mother, 'why don't you go to the hospital?'  And she said, 'because we are raped.'"

Dr. Alfredo Amores, Director of the Orellana Provincial Health Department, says women are wary of western medical doctors.

SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Dr. Alfredo Amores, Director of the Orellana Provincial Health Department: 
 "If they open your legs and put their hands inside you without asking, what do you make of that?  For an indigenous woman, this is tremendously offensive."

According to indigenous culture, giving birth is a private and intimate family affair. Traditional rituals are performed before birth for good luck.  Midwives and family members are always there to give support and comfort.

Otavalo, an ancient city where half of its ten thousand residents are indigenous, recently opened a vertical birth room in the hospital. It's the first one in the country to provide traditional childbirth under the care of both   midwives and western doctors.

SOUNDBITE (English) Lily Rodriguez, UNFPA Representative, Ecuador: 
 "What's being done is the recognition of the Declaration on the Rights of the Indigenous Peoples which says that they have the rights to be taken care of according to their culture, and world view."

Informing women about their rights, and making sure that they exercise them, is the critical role that Alba and her team play in spreading the life-saving knowledge along the Napo River.

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