Abstract:

Women and children constitute a major asset to our society and nation. It will be useful to have a close look at the prenatal, natal and postnatal conditions in which women give birth and children are brought up especially during 1-5 years of age. Primary health care (PHC) accelerates timely intervention during, after pregnancy and child birth. The PHC that achieved over 80% success in the 1980s has collapsed due to many factors leading to the failure of health system in Nigeria. The situation poses a threat in the nation’s efforts at achieving the SDG 3, particularly maternal and child health care.  The objective paper therefore, was to examine factors hindering access to primary health care services for women and children in order to devise appropriate policy and programs towards increase use of PHC among rural communities in the study area. The study was carried out in all the 16 political wards in the study Area. Seven respondents were randomly selected from each PHC in all the 16 political wards and 112 respondents constituted the sample size. Data were obtained through survey questionnaire and descriptive statistics and regression analysis were employed to analyze the data using SPSS Version 19.  Regression analysis of selected variables showed significant relationship among basic operational necessities of PHC like state of road to health facility (p = .000), availability of ambulance at the health facility (P = .000), referral practice (P = .000), availability of electricity (P = .000), sufficient rooms and furniture at the health facility (p = .000), and presence of staff welfare and motivation scheme (P = .000) with respect to services at the health facility. The paper recommends government funding, provision of infrastructure, adequate remuneration and effective awareness campaign to boost health care utilization in rural communities.