Meaningful Volunteer has just completed a 500 person sexual health survey across six barangays (villages) on the island of Tablas in the Romblon province. Sogud, Long Beach, Carmen, Cabolutan, Poblacian and Cawayan were surveyed.
The survey was translated into the local dialect.
The surveys were conducted by local BHWs (Barangay [village] Health Worker) and community members. All surveyors were paid between 150 and 250 pesos (~$US 3.10 - 5.20) depending on the size of the survey area.
One problem we encountered was that the surveyors were asking the question "Do you know how to use a [condom]?", where they should have been asking "Do you know of [condoms]?". We were interested in whether they had heard of a method as opposed to whether they knew how to use it. The surveyors who conducted the erroneous interviews returned to the households.
A better method for future surveys might be to ask the surveyee to list the contraceptives they are aware of.
We are currently in the process of collating the data and producing a document that summaries the result. A detailed analysis of the data and associated documentation will be published on this site in the near future.
Initial analysis is yielding some surprising results.
It seems that a lot of people - especially those that live in the extremely poor mountainous areas - are unaware of condoms. This may due to their isolation, or perhaps they were never even mentioned to them as part of their family planning sessions either at the church or (less likely) the local health care centers.
Part of the survey asked questions about children that have passed away in order to gain information about child and infant mortality. Some ladies listed "abortion" as the reason for the child's demise. This is in contrast to the reports from the BHWs and midwives at the local health care centers who say that there are no abortions on the island. Further research needs to be done on this issue. It may be a translation issue and "abortion" might be what a native English might call "miscarriage".