Birthrights

The Mountain Midwives of Vietnam

The maternal mortality rate in rural regions of northern Vietnam is 10 times higher than the national average.

Filmmakers: Nick Ahlmark and Nicole Precel/Storytime Films

The infant and maternal mortality rates in the mountainous regions of northern Vietnam are 10 times higher than the national average.

We follow a Hmong ethnic minority midwife who has been trained to provide maternal care to her community in the isolated Chi Ca commune.

We observe her journeys into the harsh mountain terrain, her work tending to pregnant women and her efforts to change the Hmong’s cultural attitudes towards maternal health against a backdrop of poverty and remoteness.

Click here for images of rural Vietnam and to read the filmmaker’s account of the making of The Mountain Midwives of Vietnam.