healers were included in the study.

The interviews were carried out both at the hospital and in the communities by the first author in close collaboration with and the assistance of a local research assistant who was well acquainted with the culture, customs and language in the fieldwork area. The interviews normally lasted for one to two hours, and semi-structured interview guides with open-ended questions were employed with the aim to let the informant speak freely and with as few interruptions as possible. The interviews took place in a private room at the hospital or at the informant's home or work place. The majority of the women had stayed days or weeks at the hospital at the time of the interview and had shared experiences among themselves as wellas built up a certain level of trust in the researcher who interacted with them on a daily basis at the ward. During the interviews the majority of the women appeared somewhat shy but nonetheless willingly shared their experiences.

Towards the end of the fieldwork two focus group discussions were conducted at the hospital. These included a total of 12 women who were admitted to the hospital for free surgical treatment of prolapse through a later round of the campaign. Research assistants moderated the focus group discussions in Amharic and took notes. The participants were encouraged to speak freely and to each other within the overarching topic of health care seeking, and lasted for approximately one hour. An important aim of this method was to confirm seeming patterns and