SPATIAL ANALYSIS OF HEALTH CARE FACILITIES IN SOBA LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF KADUNA STATE, NIGERIA

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Date
2020-08
Authors
SHEHU, Zailani
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Abstract
Primary health care is considered to be one of the most important aspects of the health care system in any country, which directly helps in improving the health of the population. Potential spatial accessibility is a very important component of the primary health care system. The aim of the research is to analyse the spatial distribution of health care facilities in Soba local government area of Kaduna state, Nigeria. The coordinates of the health care facilities were obtained using the handheld GPS. In determining the accessibility of the health care facilities, random points were generated to represent the centroid of the wards within the wards boundary, and the average distance taken (travel time from each ward to each healthcare facility (HCF) along the road network) were calculated using the network analyst functionality in ArcGIS 10.3. This involves the use of Origin Destination (OD) Matrix analyst tool. The distance between every ward geographic centroid and all the healthcare facilities were further structured into a geo-database to harness and determine the distance in kilometre from all the wards to the various healthcare facilities in Soba and determine the distances in accordance with the World Health Organization criteria. The result shows that the forty nine (49) health care facilities were randomly distributed across the study area and out of which, Turawa ward had the highest allocation with eight (8) that is about 16.33% followed by Kinkiba with seven (7) 14.29%, while Danwata ward hadthe least allocation with only one (1) healthcare facility that is (2.04%). Soba Ward have the highest population with 50,917 people but only had 5 HCFs while Turawa with 32,982 people have 8 HCFs. Danwata ward with population of 33,069 people which is higher than Turawa ward have only 1 functional HCF. From the result, it is clear that Turawa ward is well served with health facilities with a population ratio of 1:4,123. This could be attributed to fact that, Turawa is more centrally located than the other wards and also have road connectivity with the neighbouring ward. The equipment available in the health care facilities are mostly basic diagnostic (blood pressure monitor, thermometer), break room appliances (refrigerators and freezers), body weight scale, protective equipment (hand gloves, eye wears and face marks), sharp containers, stainless steel equipment. It is therefore, recommended that, Government should speed up efforts in renovating, building and equipping more health facilities especially in largely rural districts where the availability of these facilities is either low or non-existent. In the short-term where the facilities are available but in poor condition, government can mobilize funds to renovate and equip these facilities.
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A DISSERTATION SUBMITTED TO THE SCHOOL OF POSTGRADUATE STUDIES AHMADU BELLO UNIVERSITY IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE AWARD OF MASTER OF SCIENCE DEGREE IN REMOTE SENSING AND GEOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION SYSTEM DEPARTMENT OF GEOGRAPHY AND ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT, FACULTY OF PHYSICAL SCIENCES, AHMADU BELLO UNIVERSITY, ZARIA, NIGERIA
Keywords
SPATIAL ANALYSIS,, HEALTH CARE FACILITIES,, SOBA LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA,, KADUNA STATE, NIGERIA
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