Locational Distribution and Accessibility Analysis of Primary Health Care Facilities in Enugu Metropolis, South-East, Nigeria

Abstract

In recent years, there has been a surge in empirical research focused on understanding the nature, effectiveness, adequacy and potential advantages of Primary health care facilities (PHCF) particularly in western and Asian nations. However, there remains a notable dearth of studies investigating locational distribution and accessibility pattern of these primary health care facilities as a basis for the effectuation of this tier of health care system at the community levels in sub-Saharan African countries like Nigeria. The aim of the study is to analyze the locational distribution and accessibility pattern of existing primary health care facilities in Enugu urban using GIS. The research gathered data from a survey involving 1300 house hold heads from i5 neighborhoods in Enugu urban. Employing a questionnaire method, GIS tools, buffer analysis index and the nearest neighborhood analysis, both pictorial and quantitative data were collected. The Nearest neighbourhood analysis result showed that the PHCF has not optimally located and the Buffer analysis result suggests that the PHCF were located far away from the residents. The findings further showed that PHCF were not adequately distributed in Enugu urban. This study has provided a working guideline for the location and distribution of PHCF in Enugu as well as establish a health care facility database which will help government or non-governmental health

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