Accessibility to Primary Health Center Facilities Using Geospatial Techniques In Southern Plateau, Nigeria

Abstract

The Primary Health Center (PHC) System comprises of those small health care facilities which are based within communities
and are more accessible to people in need of healthcare. However, assessment of spatial patterns, distribution and provision
of public health services has been neglected. This research analyzes the availability and accessibility of Primary Health
Center (PHC) across Southern Plateau, Jos Plateau State. Spatial distribution of PHC was analyzed using ArcGIS to produce
accurate measure of accessibility. The spatial pattern of the PHC distribution was examined using average nearest neighbor
5km walking distance to providers (PHC) for each of the six LGAs using near analysis. In addition, the ratios of PHC to
population were calculated to identify underserved and served areas. The findings clearly indicate that the spatial pattern of
the distribution of PHC was significantly clustered in Quaan pan (62) [p-value 0.015305, Z-score 0.139526], Wase (38) [pvalue
0.046571, Z-score -1.990183] and Langtang South (34) [p-value > 0.096827, Z-score -1.660434], random in Mikang
(26) [p-value 0.889035 Z-score 0.139526] and Langtang North (52) [p-value 0.0883033, Z-score 0.147125) and dispersed in
Shendam (63) [p-value 0.072625, Z-score 1.795182]. PHC are dense within the central parts of each LGAs while low density
around the marginal parts. Substantially, more than half of the population 742,523 (62.74%) have no access to PHC within 5-
km distance and 441,063 (37.26%) of the population have access to PHC. More so, the population ratio to PHCs shows that 1
PHC served 3477 in Langtang North (least) and 1 to 5338 in Wase (highest). The output of this analysis which is spatial
distribution map and accessibility to this PHCs will assist policy-makers and authorities in planning public health delivery.

Keywords: Geospatial, Techniques, Accessibility, PHC, Southern Plateau, Nigeria.