UNMET NEEDS IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF PRIMARY HEALTH CARE IN RURAL OVIA COMMUNITIES, EDO STATE

Abstract

The objective of primary health care is to provide affordable and accessible health services to the people
at the grassroot level. This objective has over the years been hindered by numerous challenges that affect
the effective and efficient implementation of primary health care. The aim of the study was to investigate
the unmet needs in the implementation of primary health care in rural Ovia communities, Edo state.
Three hypotheses were formulated. The descriptive research design of survey method was used for the
study. The multi-stage sampling technique was used to select 180 respondents which were selected from
the 326 PHC providers and community heads in Ovia communities. Data were collected through a
researcher developed questionnaire. The questionnaire was a closed-ended of four-options modified
Likert scale. The content validity of the questionnaire was done by three experts in public health and
health education. In order to ascertain the reliability of the instrument, the researcher used the test re-test
method of reliability and 0.80 was obtained which demonstrate high reliability of the instrument using
Pearson Product Moment Correlation analysis. The instrument was administered by the researcher with
the aid of three trained research assistants who were indigenes of the sampled areas. The inferential
statistic of Chi-square was used to test the null hypotheses formulated at 0.05alpha level of significance.
The study findings revealed that lack of community involvement, inadequate funding and provision of
inadequate facilities were unmet needs in the implementation of primary health care in Ovia communities,
Edo state. The study concluded that the lack of community involvement in the planning, implementation
and evaluation of primary health programmes, inadequate funding to purchase health supplies and
adequate fund community health programmes and poor state of health facilities affected the effective and
efficient implementation of primary health care in Ovia communities. The study therefore recommended
among others that village/ward health development committees should be reinforced by local government
health authorities across various clans of the community to ensure community involvement in the
planning, implementation and evaluation of primary health programmes.