Health Education, a Precursor to Accessibility and Utilization of Primary Health Care in Nigeria

This review examined the role health education plays as a tool for reducing barriers and improving facilitators of accessibility and utilization of primary health care in Nigeria. Primary Health Care serves as the first point of healthcare contact for communities and remains the closest healthcare to the ordinary person. However, there are barriers to accessibility and utilization, including long distances to facilities, uneven distribution of PHC facilities, shortage of health personnel, insufficient funding, corruption, cultural hindrances and lack of political will. The literature revealed inadequate involvement of professional health educators. The researchers recommended that health education professional associations in Nigeria should influence government policies and practices concerning deployment of professional health educators to PHCs.