Table 2.

Main themes arising during qualitative social autopsy study, 2016–2017, in northern Tanzania

Theme	Subtheme	Key findings
Barriers to presenting to a health facility	Perceived lack of capacity and self-referrals	The perception that local health facilities lacked adequate supplies or staff influenced when and where participants presented to care.
		Families often bypassed the closest facility, effectively referring themselves to higher levels of care.
	Transport barriers	Logistics, cost, and long distances to the nearest health facility were all reported as barriers.
Barriers within the health system	Lack of formal referrals	Families were not consistently referred to a higher level of care for severe illnesses.
		This led to delays, as families had to visit several facilities and often did not have the necessary referral letters.
	Cost barriers	Many families reported that not being able to afford the costs of care put patients at risk of dying.
Facilitators of receiving care	Proactive families	Participants recognized symptoms that required medical care and proactively sought treatment.
	Social capital	Families frequently accessed financial assistance from friends and family to pay for health care.
		This social capital mediated the impact of cost barriers.