PLANNING IMPLICATIONS OF THE LOCATIONS OF RURAL PUBLIC HEALTHCARE FACILITIES IN YEWA REGION OF OGUN STATE
UWALA, VINCENT ABIMBOLA AND SODIYA, OLUROTIMI OLUYEMI, Volume 5 Issue 1, 2021 Pages 27-39, Published: 2022-10-02
Abstract
This study evaluates planning implications of the locations of rural public healthcare facilities in Yewa region, specifically areas within the Yewa South Local Government of Ogun State, with a view to ensuring improved accessibility to healthcare services in the area. The research adopted survey research method. Using multi-stage sampling technique, the local government was classified based on urbanisation status. At the second stage, the five rural wards in the local government were selected. Villages in each ward were identified and two villages were selected randomly. Automated counting of digitized buildings in the ten selected villages resulted in a total of 944 houses, out of which 886 were found to be residential through ground truthing. Twenty (20%) of the 886 residential houses discovered in the selected villages were sampled using simple random technique. Primary data were sourced from structured questionnaire administered on 186 household-heads and Global Positioning System was used to pick the geographic coordinates of existing public healthcare facilities. Findings from the study shows that Spatial pattern of the existing public healthcare facilities in the area reveals a random distribution pattern with nearest neighbour index value (Rn) of 1.02. Majority (72.1%) of the respondents travelled below 400metres to access healthcare services. Further, more than half (56.3%) of the respondents used motorcycle to reach the closet public healthcare facility. The study also brought to fore that only 16.1% spend above N1,000 on transportation. The study therefore concluded that Physical accessibility in the area is satisfactory with majority of the settlements having access to healthcare facility within 5000 metres radius. However, it is hereby being recommended that there is an increasing need for optimum number and of suitable locations of additional healthcare facilities for areas that are currently underserved by existing public healthcare facilities.