Availability, Accessibility and Utilisation of Primary Health Care Services by Community Members in Akinyele Local Government Area of Oyo State

Abstract

Health services are provided through primary healthcare [PHC] centres at community level designed to be the first contact to meet health care needs of individuals including teachers and learners in the community and a system that recognises health as a complete state of being rather than just an absence of disease. Research works are available on non-availability as well as the under-utilisation of PHC but few research efforts have been directed towards availability, accessibility and utilisation of health services. Therefore, this study investigated availability, accessibility and utilisation of primary healthcare services by community members in Akinyele Local Government Area of Oyo state. Descriptive survey research design was adopted. Purposive sampling technique was used to select 300 respondents in the community. A validated self-developed questionnaire with the following sub-scales: Availability of Primary Healthcare Services Questionnaire (APHC) (r = 0.78), Accessibility to Primary Healthcare Services Questionnaire (APHCS) (r = 0.80), and Utilisation of Primary Healthcare Services Questionnaire (UPHC) (r = 0.77) were used as instruments for data collection. Data from the administered questionnaire were analysed using descriptive statistics of frequency counts, percentage and inferential statistics of t-test and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) at 0.5significance level. Majority (65.7%) were female respondents, majority (55.5%) of the respondents were Christians, majority (31.0%) had secondary education, (39.7%) of the respondents were from Moniya community. It was also revealed that majority of the respondents (more than 50.0%) believed there was availability, accessibility and utilisation of primary health services in the area as reflected in responses to items. There was significant gender difference in the utilisation of primary healthcare services (t = 1.920), p < .05), no significant difference in utilisation of healthcare services according to educational level (f = 1.501, p ≥ .05), level of income (f = 0.693, p > .05) and place of residence (f = 1.027, p > 0.05). Based on the findings from the study, there is the need for government to increase the number of PHC personnel for effective services delivery. Also more awareness needs to be created for utilisation of PHC services especially men living in Akinyele Local Government Area, Oyo State.