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Recommendations
The anthropological data was presented to USAID. The anthropological team suggested that education on how to use the Claro container should be targeted at women and children, the members of the family who are responsible for collecting and transporting water.
Education is crucial to changing health behaviors. There have been many other educational campaigns in Bolivia besides Claro, but because the target population was largely illiterate the reach of these campaigns were limited. Therefore, literacy was identified as a crucial component for health education to be effective. Local schools do not cover health issues, so specific health education was needed because as general health knowledge grew, health behaviors changed. For instance, the anthropologists found a correlation between prenatal visits, the use of birth control, and health behaviors.
The anthropologists documented the effectiveness of the health promoter in Los Espejitos in changing health perceptions despite low literacy in that village. The health promoter used local idioms to communicate health issues, and also held a high status in the community. One of the researchers suggested that folk stories, language, and beliefs could be used to communicate biomedical concerns. This approach would be easier and probably more effective than utilizing the formal education system.
Previous promotional campaigns often used technical wording that was foreign to the target population. The researchers replaced technical words with laymen's terms. Additionally they suggested that educational materials should be translated into Quechua. Quechua is spoken by highland migrants, who made up more than 50% of the target population and largely did not speak Spanish. However, this suggestion was not implemented.
In the years following the study the Claro project was scaled back due to funding and management problems.
Sources:
Center for Disease Control and Prevention
2006 Safe Water System.
Electronic document,
http://www.cdc.gov/safewater/index.htm,
accessed November 25, 2007.
Lind, Jason D.
2000 Biomedical Perspectives vs. Ethnomedical Perceptions: A Look at Health Beliefs and
Behaviors Relating to Diarrhea in Lowland Bolivia. Master's Thesis. Minnesota State University,
Mankato.
Murphy, Arthur, Winifred Mitchell,
Brian Riley, and 4 others.
1997 Proyecto de Agua Segura: "Claro" Ethnography, Intervention
and Evaluation.
Technical Report
presented to USAID/CCH, LA PAZ, and BOLIVIA.