Abbreviated Name:
Density of primary health care facilities
Indicator Name:
Density of primary health care facilities (public and private sector)
Domain:
Health System Response/ Service delivery
Related Terms:
Primary health care
Definition:
The number of public and private primary health care facilities available relative to the total population for the same geographical area.
Measurment Method:
Count of primary health care facilities available in the country, divided by the number of population
Numerator:
"District and national databases provide the number of public primary health care facilities, often by type (such as, health center, PHC centers, health post, health houses, and dispensary). Special efforts, notably facility censuses, are often required to obtain the number of private facilities, especially if no registration system is enforced. A facility sample survey will not provide the data needed to compute service availability.
Denominator
Information collected directly from ministries of health through the baseline national health survey
Estimation method:
NA
Disaggregation:
Location: urban vs. rural, regions, provinces, districts; managing authority: public, private not-for-profit, private for profit, and other (such as parastatals).
Primary data sources:
District and national database of health facilities (often requiring facility censuses),
Alternate data sources:
Health facility surveys
Measurment frequency:
Annual updating of the number of PHC facilities, and validation every 3–5 years through a complete census.
