Table 4 Characteristics of infrastructure observed at health posts in five departments in Guatemala prior to implementing the hypertension control study
Average across 5 departments | Zacapa | Chiquimula | Sololá | Huehuetenango | Baja Verapaz | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Population served | ||||||
Population served by health district (mean) | 32,981 | 27,040 | 32,310 | 31,004 | 40,620 | 33,931 |
Population served by health post (mean) | 3239 | 2613 | 2451 | 3764 | 4675 | 2694 |
Population > 40 years (mean/health post) | 540 | 418 | 583 | 612 | 529 | 560 |
Average proportion of patients > 40 years/population (%) | 17 | 16 | 24 | 16 | 11 | 21 |
Service Delivery | ||||||
Basic infrastructure at the health post level | (n = 97) | (n = 8) | (n = 26) | (n = 26) | (n = 41) | (n = 23) |
Closed building with walls (%) | 95 | 100 | 85 | 100 | 100 | 100 |
Space to store patient records (%) | 97 | 100 | 85 | 100 | 98 | 91 |
Pharmacy (%) | 97 | 100 | 85 | 100 | 98 | 100 |
Additional Infrastructure | ||||||
Clinic (%) | 99 | 100 | 96 | 100 | 100 | 100 |
Patient record file cabinet (%) | 87 | 100 | 81 | 69 | 90 | 96 |
Space to put a patient file cabinet (%) | 91 | 100 | 85 | 96 | 85 | 91 |
Space to have hypertension club meetings (%) | 75 | 63 | 62 | 100 | 85 | 65 |
Access to the health post (transport options from the municipal seat to the health post) | ||||||
Only by walking (%) | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 29 | 0 |
Only in a 4x4 vehicle (%) | 10 | 0 | 27 | 8 | 5 | 9 |
Only by boat (%) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
Any type of vehicle (%) | 84 | 100 | 73 | 89 | 66 | 91 |
Mean time (minutes) | 33 | 32 | 26 | 35 | 37 | 37 |
Human resources | ||||||
# auxiliary nurses/health post (mean) | 2 | 1.38 | 2.27 | 2.40 | 2.22 | 1.70 |
Information systems | ||||||
Health posts that have a list of people with hypertension (%) | 30 | 25 | 15 | 12 | 34 | 65 |
Medications and Medical Supplies | ||||||
Medication type (available at the health post: yes/no) | ||||||
Hydrochlorothiazide (%) | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Enalapril (%) | 77 | 100 | 15 | 89 | 88 | 91 |
Losartan (%) | 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 57 |
Medical supplies (available at the health post: yes/no) | ||||||
Blood pressure cuff (%) | 85 | 50 | 96 | 96 | 90 | 91 |
Stethoscope (%) | 93 | 100 | 89 | 96 | 93 | 96 |
Adult weight scale (%) | 81 | 75 | 73 | 81 | 90 | 87 |
Adult height rod (%) | 80 | 88 | 77 | 81 | 71 | 83 |