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“I hope this documentary will spark a global wave of support towards fighting pre-eclampsia, something that the UN General Assembly did with HIV and Aids.” FILMMAKER Blessing Mhaka-Bvute is on a mission to raise awareness on pre-eclampsia disease, which is robbing Zimbabwean women of their babies, their joy and their lives.Titled “Mothers of Incinerator Babies”, the 30-minute documentary will look at the untold suffering Zimbabwean women are going through due to pre-eclampsia.
Pre-eclampsia is a disease that affects pregnant women.
After six months of pregnancy, a woman with the disease experiences severe high blood pressure, which at its worst causes placenta abruption, whereby the foetus is separated from the placenta and dies, and most of the time along with the expectant mother.
“The inspiration behind the documentary is the pain that affected mothers suffer. I have met women who have lost four babies, some even seven. Other women have died. Sadly, there is no awareness of pre-eclampsia,” Mhaka-Bvute said.
“Many women are dying or losing their babies due the disease yet there is little awareness about it.
“There is no cure for the condition, yet it is in the top five causes of maternal mortality in Zimbabwe.
“My hope is that the documentary will challenge the NGO community, pre-eclampsia scientists and the Ministry of Health and Child Care to do more to fight pre-eclampsia, especially in general hospitals and local clinics,” she said.
Mhaka-Bvute, who is the producer of the documentary, is urging other women to come and be part of the documentary.
“To other women who have suffered due to pre-eclampsia, come and take part in this documentary. We have already shot the trailer, which is on social media platforms, and we are now raising resources to film the documentary. For how long shall we continue to suffer in silence?”
Mhaka-Bvute said the documentary has two co-directors, Blessing Hungwe and Abel Dzobo, “to ensure the height of technical prowess and emotional balance.”
Dzobo, who is producer/director of “The Show Goes On”, a cancer awareness documentary based on the late Tongai Moyo’s cancer fight, says the documentary will go a long way in raising awareness on pre-eclampsia.
“The patriarchal nature of our society is such that we point fingers at the woman who did not deliver her baby, instead of looking into the causes. Though I was a newspaper sub-editor for over seven years, I only heard about pre-eclampsia from her (Mhaka-Bvute) last year.
“I hope this documentary will spark a global wave of support towards fighting pre-eclampsia, something that the UN General Assembly did with HIV and Aids,” Dzobo said.
Hungwe, a two-time NAMA winner, concurs: “As a husband and father, upon hearing about the condition I felt it was a very pertinent issue that the country needs to know about.
“The production is a very intimate one for the team as we are telling a personal story and the subject is not a stranger but someone we know, someone we love and on a larger scale, the women of Zimbabwe whom we feel very strongly about,” said Hungwe, who is currently in Myanmar shooting a TV series.
Some of the people to feature in the documentary include women who have suffered from pre-eclampsia, Health and Child Care Minister Dr David Parirenyatwa, gynaecologists and UNWOMEN, among others.
Online Reporter