Interviews Day 5 + TB and STIs

I'm now up to 19 interviews total, which is far more than I thought I'd have at this point (my goal was 25 total!).  Since more results are more instructive, I will continue doing interviews, though it is nice to know that I won't have any trouble reaching my goal. 

Yesterday I interviewed four more people, one of whom was young man--good for a little bit of diversity in my interviewee population. It's been interesting to see the responses I've gotten since adding the question "What is the purpose of short-term medical missions? What function do they serve in the community?" Several people have pointed to the fact that they are useful for poor people who can't afford even the minor fees associated with public health--a response I expected. However, several other people have pointed out the fact that operativos (STMMs) are community events where they go to see other people in their community.  Several people, including those who regularly receive medical care from private clinics, praised the operativos for treating rich and poor people alike--perhaps implying that rich and poor are generally treated differently in the realm of healthcare. 

I was also invited by one of my interviewees who is a promotora de salud (health promoter) in the community to a charla or talk that they were giving on TB and STIs, including HIV/AIDS.  Since attending this charla was purely tangential to my research, I really have no way of judging its effectiveness without knowing the goals and measures of effectiveness used by the program itself. I do, however have some observations and thoughts:
While the two women presenting did have accurate information, it did not appear to have been previously rehearsed and they were unable to answer several of the attendees' questions.  In my opinion, they also over-emphasized several insignificant points including the fact that HPV can spread via non-sexual contact (this has actually never been documented, but was included in the materials distributed by the Ministry of Health).  I am also curious as to the scope of people that these charlas reach--roughly half of the people in attendance were themselves promotoras de salud and the other half were people associated with the church in which the charla was given.  The people in attendance seemed to appreciate the opportunity to ask questions and the use of visual aids appeared to keep people engaged in the lecture. Though tangential, the charla was interesting and potentially relevant to my research in that STMMs also tend to provide some level of education in the form of charlas with the people that are waiting to be seen by healthcare providers.