Primary Health Care (PHC), maternal and child mortality in Nigeria: issues and implications

Shalom Chinedu, Covenant University
Dominic E. Azuh, Covenant University

Maternal and child health status have become important indicators for socio-economic development as well as health of the people of a country. Nigeria’s progress over the past five years in reducing maternal, infant and under-5 mortality rates has been very marginal. If the present trends continue it is unlikely that the country will achieve its maternal, newborn and child health-related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015. The local governments are directly responsible for the provision of primary health care services to the community with assistance from the State and Federal ministries of health. However, many of these centres are not not fulfilling the aims and objectives of establishing the PHC institution. The main objective of this study was to find out the socio-economic factors retarding the accessibility of primary health care services among the communities in the study area. The methodology is based on extensive survey among all the PHCs in the local government area, from which data were collected and analysed through SPSS. The study covered all the 16 wards of Ado-Odo/Ota Local Government Area in Ogun State, Nigeria. The survey data were analyzed statistically using statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) while information from the focus group discussions were transcribed and analyzed using content analysis. Pearson product moment correlation coefficient (r) coupled with the coefficient of determination (R2) were incorporated to ascertain relationships, direction and the strength of the association between the variables of interest. The regression analysis of the paper finds poor attitude of PHC workers, inadequate funding, poor supervision and lack of drugs and basic equipment (p= .043, .025, .019 and .000 respectively) among other factors inhibiting service delivery at the grassroots. The paper recommends better health care delivery, more government commitment in terms of funding, adequate remuneration and effective awareness campaign.