Utilisation of Primary Health Care Services Among Women in Rivers East Senatorial District, Rivers State, Nigeria
Keywords:
Utilisation, Primary Healthcare, Accessibility, Availability, ServicesAbstract
Primary health care is a fundamental aspect of all healthcare systems worldwide. The use of basic healthcare services
by women in the Rivers East Senatorial District of Rivers State was examined in this study. Three research questions
and two hypotheses served as the study's compass. A descriptive correlational study approach was employed with
133,545 women in the Rivers East Senatorial District as the population. The multistage sampling approach was used
to determine the sample size of 1596. A validated questionnaire with a reliability coefficient of 0.80 was used to gather
the data. The mean value and Pearson Product-Moment Correlation (PPMC) at the 0.05 alpha level were used for
analysis. The results showed that women in the Rivers East Senatorial District utilised PHC services at a low rate
(2.46 ± 0.93). The results indicated that women's utilisation of PHC services in the Rivers East Senatorial District was
impacted by accessibility (2.72 ± 0.78) and service availability (3.01 ± 0.72). The results demonstrated a substantial
correlation between availability (n = 1549, r = 0.53, p = 0.00), accessibility (n = 1549, r = 0.44, p = 0.00), and the use
of basic healthcare services by women in the Rivers East Senatorial District. According to the study, women in the
Rivers East senatorial district used primary healthcare services at a low rate, and their use of PHC services was also
influenced by characteristics such as service availability and accessibility. It was recommended that the Ministry of
Health ought to re-evaluate the delivery of PHC services in order to identify the gap in its utilisation and provide
practical strategies to improve the usage of PHC services by women.
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