Table 1

Definition and measurement of health facility input, output and contextual variables

VariablesMeasurement
Facility inputs
 Clinical staffTotal number of doctors/clinicians, nurses/midwives and paramedics
 BedsTotal number of maternity beds during the survey
 Medical commoditiesTotal number of different drugs, vaccines, medical supplies and medical equipment available in the health facility during the 3 months prior to the survey

  • Drugs and vaccine include 37 items: antimalarials (3), 6 antibiotics (6), antihypertensives (5), antidiarrhoeals (2), oxytocics (3), ARVs (7), vaccines (5), vitamin A (1) and family planning medicines (5).

  • Medical supplies include 11 items: male condom and female condom, disinfectant/iodine, sterile latex gloves, delivery kit, cotton wool, partograph, sutures, catheters, oxygen supply and gas supply (for vaccines).

  • Equipment includes 19 items: time/watch, autoclave, delivery table, vacuum extractor, examination lamp/torch, blood pressure machine, stainless steel bowls, neonatal Ambu bag, incubator, cord ligatus/clamp, infant laryngoscope, mucus suction, weighing scale, MUAC measuring tape, test kit, delivery kit, reagents for test kit, thermometer and stethoscope.

Facility outputs
 Outpatient visitsMonthly mean number of outpatient (preventive and curative) visits including visits of children under 5 years, over 5 years and antenatal care.
 DeliveriesMonthly mean number of facility-based normal deliveries.
Contextual variables
 Facility level of careBinary variables: three levels of care (hospitals, health centres and dispensaries).
 Facility ownership1 for public-owned facility and 0 for non-public.
 Facility location1 for facility in urban district and 0 for rural district.
 Population socioeconomic status1 for non-poor population and 0 for poor catchment population.
 Outreach servicesAverage number of outreaches in last 90 days.
 Community Health Fund (CHF)1 if facility has insurance scheme (CHF) and 0 no health insurance.
 Distance (km)Mean kilometre from facility to district headquarter.
 Supportive supervision1 if external supervision in the last 30 days and 0 for no external supervision in the last 30 days.

  • The items for medical commodities have similarly been used previously (Binyaruka and Borghi24).

  • ARVs, antiretrovirals; MUAC, mid-upper arm circumference.