The Analysis of Inequality in Utilization of Child Healthcare Services and Demographic Factors in Nigeria

High prevalence of inequality in utilizing child healthcare services has contributed in child mortality rate among under-five children globally. Though majority of these children are found in less developed economies such as Nigeria where poverty, income inequalities and diseases are widespread. This study examines the inequality in utilization of child health care services in Nigeria using the Nigeria Demographic Health Survey NDHS, 2013 data. The main objective of this study is to ascertain the demographic factors that determine child health care utilization in Nigeria. The methodology employed in this study include: Logit model, to estimate the marginal effects on the probability of utilization of child healthcare services. Also, the techniques of Field's (2003) approach to regression Base (RB) decomposition of inequality, were used to examine the difference in prevalence of child healthcare services between rural/urban dwellers and across male/female gender in Nigeria. “Utilization as dependent Variable” is proxy for modern healthcare facilities which takes the value 1or 0 otherwise. From our first objective, the empirical analysis reveals that there is a significant relationship between utilization of child healthcare service (Modern health facilities) and educational level of the mother of the child (0.0513702); similarly occupation of the parents of the child indicates a significant relationship with utilization (0.0000445), the reason is that as household move from labour-induced manual jobs to white-collar jobs they would be more likely to patronize improved child health healthcare services. This reflected the premise that children whose parents are menial workers may be more endangered than those whose parents are white-collar employed, thus the former having less health attention than the latter. In addition, it was found that the south west region (-0.0187363) of Nigeria has the least likelihood that households would not utilize modern child healthcare services while the North West (-0.1256421) is most likely not to utilize same. The recommendation that arouse is that more awareness should be made about child healthcare utilization. This would cover the gap between those who are more educated and those who are not since educational attainment is also a factor which reveals inequality in child healthcare consumption. Households should be encouraged on family planning so as to enable them have an optimal household size. Health insurance should be encouraged as a cooperative This would afford households whose forerunners are not formally employed enjoy improved healthcare services.