SOCIO-ECONOMIC FACTORS AFFECTING THE UTILIZATION OF PRIMARY HEALTH CARE SERVICES AMONG CASSAVA FARMERS IN ABIA STATE, NIGERIA

Nwafor S. Chimela, Ogbonna K. Nkem, Onyemuwa Nnaemeka, Olaniyi Abiodun

Abstract


This study examined the socio-economic factors affecting the utilization of primary health care services by cassava farmer in Abia state, Nigeria. It looked into the relationship between the socio economic status of cassava farmers and the utilization of primary health care rendered in the area. The study described the socio-economic characteristics of cassava farmers, ascertained cassava farmers’ awareness level of the existence of primary health care service centres in the study area, determined the level of utilization of primary health care service centres in the study area, and determined the socio-economic factors affecting the utilization level of primary health care services in the study area. Multistage sampling technique was used to select the sample size of 180 cassava farmers for the study. Primary data were obtained using a pre-tested questionnaire administered face to face interview technique. Result revealed that the mean age of the respondents was 45.44 years, majority (67.2%) of the respondents were females while about 68.3% of the total respondents were married and average household size was 5.23. Majority (93.3%) of the respondents had good knowledge of primary health centres in their area, 72.2% utilized the PHC service centres moderately. The result of the relationship between socio economic characteristics and utilization of PHC centres showed that the value of F-ratio computed (98.094) was greater than the value tabulated at 1 % level of significance implying that the null hypothesis which states that “There is no significant relationship between the socio-economic characteristics of respondents and their utilization of primary health care services” is rejected. Thus the study concludes that there is a significant relationship between the socioeconomic characteristics of the respondents and their utilization of primary health care services in the study area.


Keywords


Primary health care, Socio-economic characteristics, Cassava farmers.

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