Abstract:
The need to bridge the gap between rural people and health services as their health has an effect on agricultural productivity because the bulk of agricultural activities take place in the rural areas with the rural women being the major labour force prompt the study. The study examined the determinants of primary health care services patronage among rural women in Osun state with a view to providing information that would help the local government responsible for service delivery to address the fundamental elements that act as barriers to patronage of health services and it seeks specifically to; identify the socio-economic characteristics of the rural women in the study area, ascertain the type of primary health care services available in the study area, assess the attitudes of rural women about primary health care services, evaluate the pattern and frequency of patronage of the available primary health care services in the study area for the past five (5) years, (2014-2018), identify the factors determining the patronage of available primary health care services and determine the constraints faced by rural women in patronizing the available primary health care services in the study area. Data for the study were collected from both primary and secondary sources. Multi-stage sampling procedure was used to select forty-five health managements and two hundred and seventy rural women. The study revealed that the pattern of patronage of primary health centres in the study area had a progressive increase and that most of the respondents were close to the health centres. Majority of the respondents had a favourable attitude towards the services provided in the health centres in the study area. The study concluded that age of respondents, monthly income, shortage of well-trained health professionals, conduciveness of the environment (PHC centres) i.e. chairs to sit while waiting, cleanliness of PHC environment, interpersonal relationship between staff and patient, timely diagnosis and treatment of health problems by PHC staff, ability of staff to prescribe drugs for treatment of diseases effectively, cultural beliefs, nature of illness were major determinants of patronage of PHC services in the study area by accounting for 73.6% variation in the level of PHC patronage by rural women. In the light of this, it is hereby suggested that much attention should be given to healthcare facilities, well equipped with modern health equipment, employment of more competent health worker and reduction in cost of healthcare services is one of the antidote in improving patronage of healthcare facilities in the rural areas.
