Percent of service delivery points prepared to provide a specific service that have actively provided this service within the last month

Percent of service delivery points prepared to provide a specific service that have actively provided this service within the last month

Percent of service delivery points prepared to provide a specific service that have actively provided this service within the last month

This indicator measures the preparedness of service delivery points (SDPs) to offer a specific service, as identified by the program, where the SDP has actively provided this service within the past month. “Preparedness” is measured by the following: (1) all essential equipment needed for that specific service are present, functioning, and located in the service delivery area or in reasonable proximity for use; (2) all essential medications and supplies needed for that specific service are present; and (3) at least one staff member assigned to the facility has either professional or in-service training to provide the service following standard procedures.

This indicator is calculated as:

(Number of SDPs prepared to provide a specific service that have actively provided this service within the past month/Total number of SDPs prepared to provide a specific service) x 100

Data for this indicator may be obtained through a Service Provision Assessment (SPA) or a Service Availability and Readiness Assessment (SARA), which may be repeated every three to five years, to measure changes over time. This indicator can be disaggregated by SDP type and location (i.e., poor/not poor, rural/urban, and geographic region).

SPA or SARA

This is an important indicator for monitoring health system strengthening in developing countries.  A SPA survey is a health facility assessment that provides a comprehensive overview of a country’s health service delivery.  They collect information on the overall availability of different facility-based health services in a country and their readiness to provide those services (DHS Program, 2018).  Key services and topics assessed in a SPA survey are:

  • Infrastructure, resources, and systems
  • Child health
  • Maternal and newborn health
  • Family planning
  • HIV/AIDS
  • Sexually transmitted infections
  • Malaria
  • Tuberculosis
  • Basic surgery
  • Non-communicable disease

The SARA is designed as a systematic survey to generate a set of core indicators of services, which can be used to measure progress in health system strengthening over time.  The SARA core indicators are incorporated into the inventory component of the SPA survey as well.  The SARA focuses on service availability, general service readiness, and service-specific readiness.


access, health system strengthening (HSS)