Table 1. Comparison of key characteristics of pilot versus rollout facilities.
| PILOT | ROLLOUT | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Facility Type/Code | UHC1 | UHC2 | UHC3 | RHC1 | RHC2 | DH1 | RHC3 | RHC4 | RHC5 |
| Province | Lusaka | Lusaka | Western | Western | Western | Southern | Luapula | Luapula | Luapula |
| District | Lusaka | Lusaka | Mongu | Mongu | Mongu | Kalomo | Mansa | Mansa | Mansa |
| General | |||||||||
| Distance from DHO (KM) | 9 | 10 | 2 | 18 | 76 | 2 | 89 | 42 | 10 |
| Laboratory on-site | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Finger prick or Venepuncture | Both | FP | VNP | FP | FP | Both | Both | FP | Both |
| RST testing days/week | 5 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 |
| Supervision | |||||||||
| District Supervisory Visits | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | — | — | — | — |
| Program Supervisory Visits | 20 | 20 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Quality Assurance/Control | |||||||||
| External Quality Control | Weekly using pre-manufactured control samples | Inconsistently conducted; only 1 clinic used own positive and negative samples | |||||||
| External Quality Assurance | Twice during cost period using dried tube specimens | In 1 district, proficiency testing attempted, but DTS results not returned to District Lab | |||||||
| Confirmatory Retesting | Conducted on 10% of all RST samples | Not included in the national rollout | |||||||
DTS = Dry Tube Specimen; FP = Finger Prick; KM = Kilometre; RHC = Rural Health Centre; UHC = Urban Health Centre; VNP = Venepuncture