Table 1. List of indicator definitions extracted from open narratives.

Indicator	Definition	Categories
Recognised illness	The respondent mentions any clinical sign of infection, diagnosis or acute illness. We did not include witchcraft or curses.	Yes, No, Don’t know
Recognised pneumonia	The respondent mentions cough, difficulty or fast breathing, noisy breathing, chest indrawing, or states the child had pneumonia or an acute respiratory infection.	Yes, No, Don’t know
Time taken to first seek care *	The approximate time from first recognising the child was sick to seeking care outside of the home.	<24 hours 24–72 hours >72 hours Don’t know
Home care given	The respondent described providing any form of home-based treatment, such as medication or feeding, outside of healthcare advice (i.e. giving antibiotics at home as prescribed by a healthcare provider was not coded).	Yes, No, Don’t know
Location of care- seeking	The location where the respondent stated they went to seek care, if care was sought outside of the home.	None sought Traditional medicine Community health worker Health centre Hospital Private clinic Don’t know
Quality of care issue	There is mention of any aspect of poor quality of care, including: lack of staff, equipment, medication, transport, delays and negative staff attitude.	Text description
Action on care- seeking	The action that was taken or advised by a healthcare worker, while seeking care at a facility or provider. If a child was referred but never arrived at the facility, this was recorded as being referred.	Sent home Admitted Referred to another facility Don’t know
Total duration of illness	The approximate time from first recognising the child was sick to the child dying.	Number of days
Location of death	The location where the child died was explicitly stated or could be determined from the narrative (e.g. ‘after they died we were discharged’).	Home In transit Health centre Hospital Private clinic Don’t know
Oxygen given	The respondent stated that the child was given oxygen treatment, including terms such as ‘breathing tube’.	Yes No Don’t know
Other illness	The respondent described a long-term or chronic illness (e.g. asthma), malnutrition, a birth defect, or either being premature or low-birthweight.	Text description.

* We interpreted several as 3 days and couple 2 days