CHALLENGES AND PROSPECTS OF HEALTH CARE SERVICES UTILIZATION IN AKOKO NORTH COMMUNITY

ABSTRACT The study aim is to examine the challenges of healthcare service utilization of children in Akoko North Community. The study adopted four research question and objectives. Relevant literature review was also adopted for the study while structural-functional theory was adopted for the study. Descriptive research design, which information about the parents socio-economic and healthcare service utilization in Akoko North Community is to be gathered. The population for the study comprises of the five hundred (500) nursing mothers in Ankpa will be used as the population. Simple random sampling techniques will be used to select 120 nursing mother women within Ankpa. Questionnaire was used as an instrument for data collection. Questionnaire is an instrument that contains questions aimed at obtaining specific information on a variety of topics. Questionnaire is chosen because it could be presented to each respondents in exactly the same way to minimize the role of influence of the interviewer. Frequency count, mean and standard deviation was used for analysis the data. The findings reveals that nursing mothers poor educational background, maternal occupation, level of income, knowledge on the beneficial part of healthcare service utilization and poor location are the socio-economic characteristics of family’s who are favourably disposed to healthcare service utilization in Ankpa and place of delivery or lack of vaccine, wealth index, size of child at birth, long distance, lack of adequate facilities and proper announcement and shortage of vaccine and healthcare service supplies are the challenges of healthcare service utilizations in Ankpa. Based on the findings of this study, it is obvious that lack of vaccine, wealth index, size of child at birth, long distance, lack of adequate facilities and proper announcement and shortage of vaccine and healthcare service supplies are the challenges of healthcare service utilizations in Ankpa while reduction in infectious diseases morbidity and mortality, eradication of infectious diseases, herd immunity, reduction in secondary infections that complicate vaccine preventable disease, prevention of cancer and preventing antibiotic resistance are the perceived health benefit of healthcare service utilization in Ankpa. Based on the finding of this study, the following recommendations are made the government should provide free education and maternity counselling and the government should provide enough vaccine to eradicates the challenges of healthcare service utilization.