DOI: 10.5061/dryad.w0vt4b8x8
title: Seeking and reaching emergency care: A cross sectional household survey across two Liberian counties

description: The overwhelming burden of morbidity and mortality from injury and medical
 conditions requiring acute care are borne by low- and middle-income
 countries lacking accessible, quality care systems. Current evidence
 suggests the lack of prehospital care systems likely contributes to this
 disproportionate burden. As an initial step in a longitudinal,
 collaborative effort to strengthen the chain of survival for emergency
 conditions in Liberia, baseline attitudes and behaviors in accessing and
 utilizing emergency care were characterized. A multistage, proportional,
 cluster sampling frame was employed to conduct a cross-sectional,
 community-based survey of 800 households across rural Lofa County and the
 greater capital (Monrovia) metropolitan area. The primary outcome was
 facility-based utilization of emergency care within the 12 months prior to
 survey administration.
description: A community-based, cross-sectional survey was conducted in
 collaboration with the Emergency Medical Response-EMS/Respiratory Division
 of the Ministry of Health, Monrovia, Liberia, the University of Colorado,
 and Restore Hope, Liberia. Collected data was de-identified and cleaned
 prior to initial analysis in Excel. Further data analysis was performed
 via Stata (Version 14.2, College Station, TX). 
description: # Seeking and reaching emergency care: A cross sectional household survey
 across two Liberian counties Title of Dataset: Seeking and reaching
 emergency care: A cross sectional household survey across two Liberian
 counties.   Author Information: Madeline E Ross<sup>1\*</sup>,
 Antoinette H Wright<sup>2</sup>, Mark
 Luke<sup>3</sup>, Abraham Tamba<sup>3</sup>,
 Heounohu Romello Hessou<sup>4</sup>, Stephen
 Kanneh<sup>5</sup>, Kumeinu Da-Tokpah<sup>5</sup>,
 Corey B Bills<sup>1</sup>   <sup>1
 </sup>University of Colorado, School of Medicine, Department of
 Emergency Medicine, Aurora, CO <sup>2 </sup>University of
 Liberia, School of Public Health, Monrovia, Liberia <sup>3
 </sup>Emergency Medical Response-EMS/Respiratory Division, Ministry
 of Health, Monrovia, Liberia  <sup>4 </sup>Stellenbosch
 University, Department of Emergency Medicine, Cape Town, South Africa
 <sup>5 </sup>Restore Hope Liberia, Pago Island, Oldest Congo
 Town, Monrovia, Liberia   Date of data collection: November 2022.  
 Geographic location of data collection: Greater Monrovia area and Lofa
 County, Liberia.   Funding: Global Emergency Care Initiative at University
 of Colorado.   **Sharing/Access Information**   Licenses/restrictions
 placed on the data: CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain.   Links to
 publications that cite or use the data:
 [https://journals.plos.org/climate/article?id=10.1371/journal.pclm.0000286](https://journals.plos.org/climate/article?id=10.1371/journal.pclm.0000286).   Links to other publicly accessible locations of the data: None.   Relationships to ancillary data sets: None.   Was data derived from another source? No. Recommended citation for this dataset: Ross ME, Wright AH, Luke M, Tamba A, Hessou HR, Kanneh S, Da-Tokpah K, Bills CB. Data from: Seeking and reaching emergency care: A cross sectional household survey across two Liberian counties. Dryad Digital Repository. [https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.w0vt4b8x8](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.w0vt4b8x8). **Data/File Overview**   File: HH Survey Liberia   No additional related data collected not included in current data package. No multiple versions of the dataset.   Data Specific Information: HH Survey Liberia Number of Variables: 64 Number of Cases: 800   **Data-Specific Information** Data codes: NA (data not available) Specialized formats: none | Variable | Variable Explanation | Variable Type (units if applicable) | Code | | | | | | -------- | -------------------- | ----------------------------------- | ---- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | id\_numeric | Identification number | Continuous | numeric | | | | | | Lofa County | Geographic cluster/county | Categorical  | 0=Monrovia | 1=Lofa | | | | | phone | Phone ownership | Categorical  | 0=no | 1=yes | | | | | smartph | Smartphone ownership | Categorical  | 0=no | 1=yes | | | | | sex | Biological sex | Categorical  | 0=female | 1=male | | | | | hoh | Is respondant head of household | Categorical  | 0=no | 1=yes | | | | | hoh\_relation | Relationship to head of household | Categorical  | variable text | | | | | edu | Highest level of education | Categorical  | 0=none | 1=primary  | 2=secondary | 3=college/university | 4=graduate | | lit | Literacy | Categorical  | 0=no | 1=yes | | | | | water\_drink | Type of access to drinking water | Categorical  | variable text | | | | | water\_treat | Treatment of drinking water | Categorical  | 0=no | 1=yes | | | | | soap\_hygiene | Access to soap for hygiene | Categorical  | 0=no | 1=yes | | | | | water\_agri | Access to water for agriculture/farming | Categorical  | 0=no | 1=yes | | | | | electricity | Household with reliable electrical source | Categorical  | 0=no | 1=yes | | | | | cook\_where | Location of household cooking | Categorical  | 0=outside | 1=inside | | | | | cook\_how\_bi | Mechanism of household cooking | Categorical  | 0=charcoal/wood | 1=propane/gas | | | | insurance | Personal health insurance | Categorical  | 0=no | 1=yes | | | | | cha | Community health assistant in household's community | Categorical  | 0=no | 1=yes | | | | | hv\_routine\_num | Number of household routine healthcare visits in the last 12 months | Continuous (visits) | numeric | | | | | | hv\_emer\_num | Number of household emergency healthcare visits in the last 12 months | Continuous (visits) | numeric | | | | | | mech\_emer\_day | Mechanism of travel to healthcare for emergency occurring during the day | Categorical  | variable text | | | | | costtravel\_emerg\_day | Cost of travel to healthcare for emergency occurring during the day | Continuous (USD) | numeric | | | | | | mech\_emer\_night | Mechanism of travel to healthcare for emergency occurring at night | Categorical  | variable text | | | | | costtravel\_emerg\_night | Cost of travel to healthcare for emergency occurring at night | Continuous (USD) | numeric | | | | | | ambu\_use | Household member has used an ambulance for transport to health facility in emergency  | Categorical  | 0=no | 1=yes | | | | | ambu\_called | Household member has called an ambulance for transport to health facility in emergency but was not transported | Categorical  | 0=no | 1=yes | | | | | ambu\_notransport | Reason why household member was not transported by ambulance to health facility in an emergency after calling | Categorical  | 0=ambulance did not arrive | 1=ambulance denied transport | 3=ambulance broke down | 4=unable to pay | 5=individual declined transport | | ambu\_num | Household member knows phone number to activate ambulance | Categorical  | 0=no | 1=yes | 2=don't know | | | ambu\_callcost | Cost associated with phone call to activate ambulance | Categorical  | 0=no | 1=yes | | | | | training\_y | Has respondent had prior training in response to medical emergencies (first aid, CPR, injury management, BLS) | Categorical  | 0=no | 1=yes | | | | | eucare\_12mo | Personal use of emergency unit in a health facility in prior 12 months | Categorical  | 0 | 1 | 3 | \&gt;4 | | | prioreucare | Did you seek care from someone or somewhere prior to seeking care at an EU? | Categorical  | 0=no | 1=yes | | | | | prioreucare\_where | If you sought care elsehwere prior to EU Care what was that place.  | Categorical  | 1=CHA/CHP | 2=Clinic/Primary Care Center | 3=Family or friends | 4=Pharmacy/Drug Store | 5=Other health provider | | delayedcare | Personal use of emergency care from another person or place prior to seeking care at an emergency unit in a health emergency | Categorical  | 0=no | 1=yes | | | | | dealyedcare\_otherhc | Location of emergency care prior to seeking care at an emergency unit in a health emergency | Categorical  | 0=no | 1=yes | | | | | reasonnocare | If you did not seek care or delayed care what were the reasons | Categorical  | variable text | | | | | reasonnocare\_elsewhere | If you did not or delayed care, did you seek care elsewhere | Categorical  | 0=no | 1=yes | | | | | reasonnocare\_hfwithoutresource | If you did not or delayed care, was it because you lacked resources | Categorical  | 0=no | 1=yes | | | | | reasonnocare\_transport | If you did not or delayed care, was it because of a lack of transport | Categorical  | 0=no | 1=yes | | | | | reasonnocare\_famdis | If you did not or delayed care, was it because of family disapproval in use of health facilities | Categorical  | 0=no | 1=yes | | | | | reasonnocare\_selfmed | If you did not or delayed care, was it because you self medicated | Categorical  | 0=no | 1=yes | | | | | reasonnocare\_distance | If you did not or delayed care, was it because of a distance to health facility | Categorical  | 0=no | 1=yes | | | | | reasonnocare\_highcost | If you did not or delayed care, was it because high cost | Categorical  | 0=no | 1=yes | | | | | lang\_eng | Is the primary language of the survey respondent english? | Categorical  | 0=no | 1=yes | | | | | langspoke\_eng | Spoken language of english in household | Categorical  | 0=no | 1=yes | | | | | occ\_farmer | Individual with occupation of farming | Categorical  | 0=no | 1=yes | | | | | anydeath | \&gt;1 death occurring in household in last 12 months | Categorical  | 0=no | 1=yes | | | | | unemployed | Individual unemployed | Categorical  | 0=no | 1=yes | | | | | income\_100USD | Household income &lt;100 USD | Categorical  | 0=no | 1=yes | | | | | nrefusaltocare\_bi | If a person in your community finds an injured person are there reasons why they would not help them? | Categorical  | 0=no | 1=yes | | | | | outcome\_anyEUcare | Did you seek any EU-based care in the last 12 months | Categorical  | 0=no | 1=yes | | | | | death\_all | Total number of deaths in household in last 12 months?  | Continuous (persons) | numeric | | | | | | climate\_heat | Compared to five to ten years ago, do you feel the intensity of heat during the dry season? | Categorical  | 0=less intense | 1=no change | 2=more intense | | | climate\_cold | Compared to five to ten years ago, do you feel the intensity of cold during the rainy season has changed? | Categorical  | 0=less intense | 1=no change | 2=more intense | | | climate\_rain | Compared to five to ten years ago, do you feel the intensity of rainfall during the rainy season has changed | Categorical  | 0=less intense | 1=no change | 2=more intense | | | climate\_diseaseseverity | Compared to five to ten years ago, do you feel certain diseases (such as malaria) are changing in severity (eg. more people are getting sick)? | Categorical  | 0=less intense | 1=no change | 2=more intense | | | climate\_diseasefreq\_dry | Compared to five to ten years ago, do you feel the frequency of diseases during the dry season are changing? | Categorical  | 0=less intense | 1=no change | 2=more intense | | | climate\_diseasefreq\_wet | Compared to five to ten years ago, do you feel the frequency of diseases during the rainy season are changing? | Categorical  | 0=less intense | 1=no change | 2=more intense | | | climate\_water | If you access water from a well or other communal source, does it run dry in the non-rainy season | Categorical  | 0=less intense | 1=no change | 2=more intense | | | climate\_food | Has your food supply been impacted by shortages or higher prices in the last five years from warmer temperatures, drought, flooding, wildfires, or other extreme weather events? (%) | Categorical  | 0=less intense | 1=no change | 2=more intense | | | climate\_healthemergencies | Have you or your household members experienced an increase in health emergencies due to extreme heat, drought, flooding, wildfires, or other extreme weather events? (%) | Categorical  | 0=less intense | 1=no change | 2=more intense | | | climate\_healthcareaccess | Have extreme weather events in the past 5 years, such as flooding, rain, or other storms made it more challenging to access medical care? | Categorical  | 0=less intense | 1=no change | 2=more intense | | | climate\_residence | Has your place of residence or workplace been impacted by flooding, drought, extreme heat, or other climate-extreme weather eventrelated | Categorical  | 0=less intense | 1=no change | 2=more intense | | | climate\_homework | Have you or members of your household had to move due to changes in weather or climate (including a lack of precipitation for farming, crop failure, household flooding,fire) | Categorical  | 0=less intense | 1=no change | 2=more intense | | | | |