At Highest Risk

Rebecca Rivas
At Highest Risk

Abstract: Just as the rivers of the Andes mountains twist and coil in a curious maze, so does the grave situation of Peruvian women’s health care. Within the past decade, the Andean women in Peru have faced a massive sterilization campaign, exorbitant fines for homebirths, remnants of a deadly civil war, and the second highest maternal death rate in South America. Yet, as they have for centuries, the Quechua and Aymara people are fighting to preserve their traditions, beliefs and integrity. Through the compelling story of one Andean woman, Judyth Aguero Vega, we see the horrors and triumphs of Peru’s volatile health care situation. Inside a small adobe kitchen, Elsa Romero-Murrado, a midwife in the rural town of Ccapacmarca, takes us through rarely seen birthing ceremonies. Down the dirt path, her neighbor Judyth, 27, shares her fears of birth as she bestrides the lines of modern and traditional medicine. Their town sits seven hours from the nearest hospital. Cerlia Mendoza, president of the Mother’s Club, testifies to a list of 200 women who were bribed by doctors to undergo sterilization.

Production Date:
09/01/06

Distributor:
Documentary Educational Resources
101 Morse St.
Watertown, MA 02472

Phone:
617.926.0491

Fax:
617-926-9519

Email / Webpage:
docued@der.org

http://der.org/films/at-highest-risk.html

Running Time:
45

Medium:
DVD

Film Purpose: The film winds through the beauty of Andean people’s spirituality and their mysterious gift of self-preservation throughout centuries of adversity. It's intent is to expose the complex issues that intertwine in places like rural Peru: traditional medicine, socialized and/or subsidized health care and law, and the individual problems that arise in different personal relationships and family situations.

Film Audience: General, advocacy, educational, women's studies, anthropology, sociology, heath care

Role of the Anthropologist / Collaboration: As part of a Fulbright grant, the crew spent one year researching and filming in some of the most inaccessible regions of the Peruvian Andes. The filmmaker befriended the woman featured in the documentary and was allowed an intimate look at reproductive health care in a developing country.

Filmmaker/anthropologist: Rebecca Rivas, Univ. of Missouri / US Fullbright Commission

Keywords: healthcare, Quechua, reproductive rights