KAP survey

As part of the project, we have to do three KAP surveys, one at the start, one in the middle and one at the end. KAP stands for knowledge attitudes and practice and the idea is that we survey the areas that we are working in and assess the levels of knowledge, right attitudes and correct and safe practices with regards to HIV and nutrition, measuring the impact of the project on the communities.

We asked a local social marketing NGO to collect the data, after I had designed the survey method, the questionnaire and the analysis template. They know the areas and the key people to ask directions etc from. I am so glad we did. They came back with stories of thigh high rivers, and impenetrable roads.

There has been a crazy amount of rain recently and this made it all much more difficult. They had one bumper dented, after they slid in the mud into a ditch, two tyres punctured, and a punctured oil tank, probably from a stray stone. They had to cross borders into South Africa and Mozambique to get oil and sealant for the tank, as it was the nearest place. I was told that when they asked where the nearest mechanic was they were pointed towards a big mountain that they would have to walk over, as there was no transport.

Normally when you are collecting data for a survey you employ this technique where you choose a house to survey, following a complicated and long random selection process. Then you go to the next nearest house on the right. In Swaziland the houses are very spread out, for many reasons, and when the data collectors asked one man where the next nearest house was in a certain direction, the reply was, “40 minutes drive.” As a result of this drama it took four days longer than planned. Not bad really considering the conditions.

Initial results look good - really good actually. It seems that levels of knowledge and attitudes have improved, and even though practices have often not improved significantly, people are aware that it’s not good to have a diet consisting of only maize in various forms. The barrier is no longer mostly a lack of knowledge and financial means, mostly just financial means now. This is a major step forward!!

The training sessions for year one are now over and have been very popular in the communities with lots of positive feedback. Participants express that they have learnt a lot of useful information and also that they have had a good time - exactly what I was going for! I thought I’d include this picture taken from one of the final training sessions that we were doing in Shiselweni, in the south of the country. A nutritionist, Patience showed me the picture she had taken and said “Look! Even the cows want to come and be trained!”



Next year we will revisit everyone we have trained and do refresher days, in addition to visiting them in their communities and supporting them to integrate the nutritional information we have given them into their daily activities as a community health worker or volunteer.