Utilisation of Primary Health Care (PHC) Centers by Residents of the Community. A Scientific Study

Bachelor Thesis from the year 2013 in the subject Health - Miscellaneous Lagos State University (College of Medicine) course: Medicine and Surgery language: English abstract: The need for the world communities to provide and promote essential health care for all led to the development of the concept of Primary health care (PHC) as a key to achieving this goal. This was meant to aid in bridging the gap of existing inequality in health status among different people of various socioeconomic backgrounds in developed and developing countries of the world.The study employed a descriptive cross-sectional survey conducted using interviewer administered semi-structured questionnaire among residents of Agbowa community between October and November 2012. Analysis of the result was done using the Epi-info 2012 statistical software.Out of 180 respondents 91.1% are aware of the PHC centers within their community 75.6% use the PHC centers and Immunization services were mostly utilized by the respondents (31.1%). 52.2% of the respondents are satisfied with the health care facilities available at the centers and 32.8% of the respondents are satisfied with the services provided by the centers. Among the common reasons for not using the PHC centers are the preference of respondents for the hospitals (27.7%) and the unavailability of drugs (15.9%) there was also a significant relationship between the distance from homes of the respondents and the use of PHC centers.This study has shown that there is a high level of utilization of the services available at PHC centers in Agbowa community. The level of utilization of the PHC centers among the residents is not affected by their level of education or occupation. The results also show that more respondents are not satisfied with the services obtained at the centers due to their poorly-maintained facilities inadequacies in health care equipment and medical personnel. Therefore adequate drug supply and medical equipment should