Constraints to the Utilization of Primary Healthcare by Farm Families in Rural Communities of Rivers State, Nigeria

The study assesses the constraints to the utilization of primary healthcare by farm families in rural communities of Rivers State, Nigeria. It described the socio-economic characteristics of the respondents in the study area; determined the level of access by farm families of primary healthcare services provided in the study area; and determined factors that hinder farm families access to primary healthcare delivery system in the study area. A multi-stage sampling technique was used to select 172 primary health centre staff and 376 farmers. Questionnaires were used to elicit data from the respondents. The reliability of instrument was 87%. Descriptive statistical tools such as frequency distribution, percentage, mean and inferential statistics such as Multiple Regression and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) were also used. Result of the descriptive statistic showed that most of the farm families (51.1%) were males while most (72.3%) of the staff of primary healthcare centre was female. The mean age of the respondents were 38 years and 39 years for farm families and staff of primary healthcare centre, 59.0% of the farm families had secondary education and (98.1%) staff of primary healthcare centre had tertiary education. 69.4% of the farm families and 56.0% of the staff of primary healthcare centre were married. A mean household size of 5 and 4 persons for farm families and staff of primary healthcare centre, and a mean monthly income of N61,876 and N154,745 for farm families and staff of primary healthcare centre. Based on level of access to primary healthcare services by farm families, result shows that farm families in agricultural zones 1, 2 and 3 had access to immunization ( = 4.77, = 4.96, = 4.83 respectively). The constraints of farm families’ access to primary healthcare delivery system were; lack of capital to fund the health centres ( =3.75, =3.38 and =3.61), non-availability/insufficient health centres ( =3.66, =3.58 and =3.66), inadequate health workers ( =3.54, =3.26 and =3.39), unfriendly attitude of health personnel ( =3.43, =3.39 and =3.44) for agricultural zone 1, 2, 3 respectively. The socio-economic characteristics influencing level of access to primary healthcare services were; gender, age, educational level, occupation, marital status, household size and income level.