Table 1

Facility-based quality of care, transportation and communication variables, 2016 Kigoma Health Facility Assessment

All facilities
(n=174)
Hospitals
(n=6)
Health centres
(n=25)
Dispensaries
(n=143)
EmONC status (% distribution)
 CEmONC*5.2100.012.00.0
 BEmONC*1.70.012.00.0
 Non-EmONC93.10.076.0100.0
Primary transport type (% distribution)
 On-site ambulance at facility8.666.740.00.7
 Ambulance at DHO/local council54.60.044.058.7
 Private vehicle used2.30.00.02.8
 Self-transport34.533.316.037.8
Communication capability (%)
 Facility telephone/transmitter in working order12.166.736.05.6
 Access to a functioning mobile phone97.1100.0100.096.5
 Radio/cell phone/other communication on ambulance0.616.70.00.0
Referral communication practices (%)
 Phone/radio used to communicate referrals32.250.048.028.7
 SMS used to communicate referrals1.70.00.02.1
 Paper referral slip used to communicate referrals75.950.052.081.1
 Facilities able to use 2 or more communication practices to communicate referrals§10.216.74.011.9
  • *CEmONC facilities were classified as CEmONC (6 hospitals and 3 health centres), with or without AVD, while BEmONC facilities were all BEmONC without AVD (3 health centres). All EmONC facilities were classified as performing a set of signal functions within the previous 3 months. Non-EmONC facilities did not fall in any of these categories.

  • †8.6% indicates those facilities that had working ambulances. Three other facilities reported the use of ambulance, but the ambulance was non-functioning at the time of data collection. These facilities were collapsed into the percentage of the ambulance at the DHO/local council category.

  • ‡These two categories were not assessed as percent distributions, unlike the EmONC status and primary transportation type. All of these questions were assessed separately, and some were not used in final transportation/communication assessments.

  • §Many facilities reported using both paper referral slips and phone/radios to communicate referrals. This metric is supposed to capture this overlap.

  • AVD, assisted vaginal deliveries; BEmONC, basic emergency obstetric and neonatal care; CEmONC, comprehensive emergency obstetric and neonatal care; DHO, district health office; EmONC, emergency obstetric and neonatal care; Non-EmONC, non-emergency obstetric and neonatal care; SMS, short message service.