Factors associated with malaria microscopy diagnostic performance following a pilot quality-assurance programme in health facilities in malaria low-transmission areas of Kenya, 2014

Table 1 Characteristics of surveyed health facilities in malaria low-transmission areas of Kenya, 2014

Characteristic	QA-pilot health facilities (N = 21)		Non-QA pilot health facilities (N = 21)
Characteristic	Number	Percentage	Number	Percentage
Health-facility level
Primary care facilities	12	58	12	58
Dispensary	2	10	2	10
Health centre	10	48	10	48
Hospitals	9	42	9	42
Primary hospital	8	38	8	38
Secondary or referral hospital	1	4	1	4
Urban location	10	48	4	19
Participates in SLIPTA program	4	19	3	14
Microscope(s) in good optical condition	20	95	18	86
Workload >10 malaria slides per day	14	67	13	70

Characteristic	QA-pilot health facilities (N = 21)		Non-QA pilot health facilities (N = 21)
Characteristic	Median	Range	Median	Range
Number of microscopists
Dispensary	1	–	3	2–3
Health centre	2	1–4	2	1–2
Primary hospital	7	5–12	4	2–7
Secondary or referral hospital	7	–	7	–
Malaria slide workload per day
Dispensary	22	5–28	30	7–52
Health centre	17	5–21	15	4–19
Primary hospital	21	7–28	18	6–52
Secondary or referral hospital	9	4–16	18	7–28

QA quality assurance, SLIPTA stepwise laboratory improvement towards accreditation, an external laboratory-strengthening program sponsored by World Health Organization

ISSN: 1475-2875