Access and Utilization of Government Health Facilities by Rural Farm Households: Evidence from Kogi State, Nigeria.

Abstract

The study analyzed farm households' access and utilization of government health facilities in Kogi State, Nigeria. Specifically, it described the socioeconomic characteristics of farm households, determined the level of accessibility to health facilities by farm households, and determined the factors that drive farm households' utilization of government health facilities. A two staged random sampling technique was used to select one hundred (100) farm households and twenty (20) government-owned health care facilities from four Local Government Areas in the State. Data obtained through structured questionnaire and spot assessments were analyzed using descriptive statistics, indices of accessibility and binary logit regression model. The indices of accessibility revealed that there is unequal access to government health facilities (medical personnel and infrastructure) in the area. The binary logit model indicated that farming experience (p<0.01), distance to health centre (p<0.05), and cost of treatment (p<0.001) negatively influenced the utilization of government health facilities, while gender (p<0.05), education (p<0.05), and numbers of dependants (p<0.05) directly influenced government health care facilities utilization among farm households. It was suggested based on findings from the study that government needs to urgently engage and deploy more medical personnel and facilities to rural areas. Also, intervention programmes such as construction of good access will reduce travelling distance to health facilities.