The management of acute respiratory infections in Honduras: A field test of the focused ethnographic study (FES)

Abstract

The World Health Organization has recently developed an ethnographic research manual, The Focused Ethnographic Study (FES) for ARI, whose purpose is to facilitate Acute Respiratory Infection (ARI) program development by providing information about the context in which families perceive and respond to ARI, and by identifying factors that facilitate or impede prompt care‐seeking for children with pneumonia. The methodology is focused around answering a set of pre‐defined “Programme Managers’ Questions” which represent the main concerns and needs of ARI programs. The FES is designed to address both the need for in‐depth information about the household and community‐level factors which affect the management of ARI, and the need for timely, program relevant, and focused information. A field test of this manual was conducted in Honduras, and a number of recommendations to the local ARI program were developed concerning improving communication about ARI with mothers of young children. The Honduran fieldtest of the FES shows how systematic ethnographic research can be conducted and translated into concrete recommendations for bridging the social and communication gap which so often exists between health workers and the communities they serve.

Key words:

• acute respiratory infections
• ethnographic studies
• program planning
• Honduras