Delivery in a Health Facility

The indicator measures the proportion of women aged 15 – 49 with a live birth (i.e. not stillbirth) in the past 2 years whose most recent live birth was delivered in a health facility. Delivering in a health facility reduces the risk of life-threatening complications and death.

Collect the following data by conducting individual interviews with a representative sample of women aged 15 – 49 who in the past 2 years delivered a live child:

RECOMMENDED SURVEY QUESTIONS (Q) AND POSSIBLE ANSWERS (A)

Q1: Where did you give birth to your youngest child?

A1:

1) at the respondent’s home

2) at other home

3) in the government hospital

4) in the government health centre

5) in a private hospital

6) in a private clinic

7) in other private medical facility

8) other – specify: __________________

Calculate the indicator’s value by dividing the number of respondents who delivered at a government or private health facility by the total number of respondents and multiplying the result by 100.

Disaggregate the data by place of delivery (e.g. hospital, health clinic, home), respondent’s location (rural / urban), number of deliveries, and socio-economic characteristics (wealth category, level of education).

1) Use the following two questions to assess whether the respondent is “aged 15 – 49 years and had a live birth in the last 2 years”:

Q: What is your age?

A: specify: ______ / won’t say

Q: In the past two years, did you give birth to a child that was alive when it was born? [note for the enumerator: even if the baby was only alive for several seconds]

A: yes / no / won’t say

2) Always assess also who attended the woman’s delivery – see guidance here.

3) Consider assessing who decided where the delivery will take place by asking: Who made the decision about where to deliver your youngest baby? 

4) The set of questions was adapted from UNICEF’s Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) questionnaire.