ASSESSMENT OF ACCESSIBILITY CHALLENGES TO HEALTHCARE FACILITIES USING GEOSPATIAL TECHNOLOGY IN GIWA LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA, KADUNA STATE

Abstract

Health constitutes a significant aspect of human capital, and there is considerable consensus in the
literature regarding the correlation between health and economic development. This study assessed
the accessibility challenges to healthcare facilities in Giwa Local Government Area, Kaduna State. A
list of healthcare facilities was obtained from the Health Department of Giwa local government
area, while coordinates of the healthcare facilities were collected using a handheld GPS device.
Analysis was carried out using descriptive statistics and Average Nearest Neighbor using ArcGIS
10.5. The result shows that a total number of 81 healthcare facilities were identified, where Giwa
has the highest with 10 healthcare facilities in the area and a ratio of 1:7620. The average nearest
neighbour revealed that the pattern of the spatial distribution of healthcare facilities was clustered
with the nearest neighbour ratio of 0.710865, with a z-score of -4.9474 and a p-value <0.05. This
research conclusively shows that there is inequality in the distribution of healthcare centres in the
wards that make up the study area as population was not considered in the distribution of these
facilities resulting in a clustered pattern of distribution of facilities in some areas at the expense of
other areas leading to difficulty in reaching facilities. The study therefore recommended there is a
need to consider the disadvantaged areas for future location rather than concentrating attention only
on a few political districts