Primary health care services for effective health care development in nigeria: a study of selected rural communities

This is an empirical study of 7 communities among the O-kun Yoruba of Ijumu, Kogi State, Nigeria. The general objective of the study was to investigate the prioritizing pattern of the various Primary Health Care services (PHC) in the study area. Data for the study were generated mainly through multi-stage sampling technique, by the use of questionnaire administered to 235 respondents randomly selected from the 7 communities under review. The major finding of this study is that there is no uniformity in the ranking of PHC services in most rural communities and that every community will want to opt for a PHC service whose end they are able to see more clearly and utilize more to advantage, among several alternatives. The implication of this finding forms the thrust of this paper for health development.Keywords: Primary health care, participation, ranking, health behaviour, service