Transportation constraints to rural health accessibility in Ogun Waterside Local Government Area of Ogun State Nigeria

Abstract

The rural areas is generally characterized by low population density, low level of economic activities and traffic; long distances between nodal points, such as service centres; high unit costs for service delivery, operations, maintenance, and often difficult geographic and weather conditions. Rural communities face transport constraints which limit their ability to reduce their poverty and in order to satisfy their need for greater access to health, education and every possible opportunities, ease of physical accessibility and freedom of movement are top priorities. Questionnaire was administered on a randomly selected sample of 200 residents in the area. Of the 200 questionnaires administered, 182 questionnaires were received for analysis using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). Secondary data was also sourced to serve as complement to the primary data, thus allowing for a robust research. Descriptive statistical tools such as percentages were adopted to present the socio - economic characteristics in the area. Findings showed that the about 52.2% of sampled population are male, 12.1 % are degree holders, 39% of respondents are young within the 25 – 35 yrs age bracket, 70.3% married. Also, that majority of the respondents (54.4%) said that there are rural health facilities in their area, while about 78% of the respondents observed that road network in the area is either bad / very bad (poor). It was established that lack of transport infrastructure coupled with poor road maintenance were seen as the leading causes of inaccessibility of the area.

Keywords: Accessibility, Rural, Mobility, Density, Agriculture, Travel