An assessment of the barriers to women access to health facilities in Isi communities of Edo State, South-South Nigeria. Implication for policy development and social work

Ernest Osas Ugiagbe¹, G. Vincent-Osaghae^2
1University of Benin, Benin City, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Social Work,Nigeria ²University of Benin, Benin City, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Nigeria

Korespondenční autor: Ernest Osas Ugiagbe (ernestugiagbe@yahoo.com)

ISSN 1804-7181 (On-line)

Full verze:

Submitted:29. 10. 2013
Accepted: 14. 5. 2014
Published online: 15. 7. 2014

Summary

The focus of the paper was the assessment of barriers to women access to health facilities in Isi communities of Edo State, South-South Nigeria. The survey research design was adopted for this study. The purposive sampling method was used to select the research participants. This is because of the characteristics the participants must have to qualify for participation in the research. The instruments of data collection were the Focus Group Discussion (FGD) and the in-depth interview. The data collected were analysed into frequency distribution, simple percentage and cross tabulated with the variables. The results of the data analysis reveal that the women in the study area are being deprived of basic rights to health facilities by the government and where the health facilities are available the socio-cultural factors like belief systems, peer influence, logistics and poverty prevent the women from accessing the facilities. The implication of the policy development and social work practice in Nigeria were discussed. Recommendations for remedying the situation were made.

Keywords: health; women; communities; culture; facilities

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