Rejoice Kudirat Luka-Lawal1
,
Jenny Adonoreli Momoh1,
Elijah Chika Njoku2,
Ivie Faith Esene2,
Akhere Danny Asogun1
For correspondence:- Rejoice Luka-Lawal Email: rejoicelukalawal24@gmail.com
Received: 15 August 2020 Accepted: 24 September 2020 Published: 14 September 2020
Citation: Luka-Lawal RK, Momoh JA, Njoku EC, Esene IF, Asogun AD. Health care services utilization in a comprehensive health centre, in a rural community of South-South, Nigeria. Trop J Med Dent Pract 2020; 1(1):39-44 doi: https://doi.org/10.47227/tjmdp/v1i1.6
© 2020 The author(s).
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Background: There are varying levels of utilization of Primary HealthCare (PHC) services, with several and varied determining factors. At most Comprehensive Health Care (CHC), PHC and is the first level of care for households within the national health systems. Adequate utilization of health care facilities is pivotal to the well-being of the people. Studies on health services utilization focused mainly on the facility with less attention to the community. This study assesses the household utilization of the only CHC within Obeidu community in Esan North-east Local Government of Edo state, Nigeria. The objectives are to assess households’ utilization of the CHC, to identify the barriers to the utilization of the CHC and to determine the motivators to the utilization of the CHC by households in the community.
Methods: A simple random sampling technique was used to select 60 households each from the three wards in the community, making a total of 180 households. In each ward, the household head, or a representative of the first 60 households were interviewed using a semi-structured interviewer-administered questionnaire. Data were analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 21.0
Results: This study found that only 27.8% of the household utilized the PHC centre in the community, while 41.4% and 14.3% of the household utilize the patent medicine vendors/pharmacies and traditional medicines, respectively. The major barriers to utilization were lack of health personnel and essential drugs.
Conclusion: The HC facility is grossly underutilized as only 27.8% of the households utilized the health facility and a whooping majority using pharmacy and patent medicine vendors.
