Healthcare Experiences and Subsequent Healthcare-Seeking Pathways in Tanzania: NPS 2010/11–2014/15 Analytical Dataset

This dataset contains the analytical sample used to examine how patients’ reported experiences during an initial healthcare consultation are associated with subsequent healthcare-seeking pathways in Tanzania. It was constructed from three rounds of the Tanzania National Panel Survey (NPS): 2010/11, 2012/13, and 2014/15. The unit of analysis is the individual–survey-round observation, reflecting the longitudinal structure of the NPS. The analytical sample is restricted to healthcare episodes in which the initial consultation occurred at a public, faith-based/non-governmental, or private healthcare facility and the variables required for the empirical analysis are observed. The dataset contains variables describing initial care experience, provider sector, healthcare financing, healthcare expenditure, illness severity, household expenditure, demographic characteristics, survey round, and subsequent healthcare utilization. Initial care experiences include no reported problem, poor building/equipment, long waiting time, inadequately trained staff, treatment being too expensive, lack of medicines, and other reported problems. The main analytical sample contains 9,681 individual–round observations, including 1,447 observations with a recorded second healthcare contact. Subsequent healthcare pathways distinguish between no observed second contact, a second non-pharmacy contact, and a second pharmacy contact. The dataset supports the study’s sequential binary-logit and multinomial-logit analyses, together with robustness and specification diagnostics. Reported medicine unavailability represents the respondent’s experience at the initial consultation and should not be interpreted as an independently verified facility-level stock-out.