The choice of health care facilities in rural areas of Nigeria: Analyzing the impact of distance and socio-economic factors

Abstract

This paper examined the impact of physical distance as a determinant of the type of health care facilities patronized in rural areas of Nigeria. It also examined the contribution of socio-economic and mobility factors in determining the type of health facilities utilized. Data used were collected from 220 respondents selected through stratified sampling techniques from 11 rural settlements of Badagry LGA, Lagos State through the use of questionnaires. The study revealed that General Hospital located in Badagry town is the dominant health facility used by 56.36% of the respondents. It also revealed that a weak positive correlation (0.379) exists between distance and the choice of health facilities. Findings from the result of principal component analysis further showed that 62.09% of the reasons for the choice of health facilities patronized is explained by five factors: (monthly income,
20.20% ; sex, 12.88%; travel time, 10.34% ; household size, 9.83% and transport cost, 8.84%). The paper concluded by advocating the need for government to upgrade some of the rural-based primary health facilities to general hospital and to encourage the private sector to establish quality hospitals in rural areas of the study area.