Spatial Analysis of Distribution Patterns of Healthcare Facilities in Nangere Local Government Area of Yobe State, Nigeria

Abstract

The paper examined the spatial analysis of distribution patterns of healthcare facilities in Nangere Local Government Area of Yobe State. These were with a view to improve the spatial distribution and equitable access to healthcare facilities in the State. Primary and secondary data were used in the study. The primary data comprised the geographic coordinates of all the healthcare facilities in the local government using the Global Positioning System (GPS) Garmin GPS map 76CS receiver, while the secondary data included the list of all the healthcare facilities in the local government and the documented materials from unpublished and published dissertations and thesis, journals, textbooks, internet materials and conference papers. The data were analyzed using percentage and Geographical Information System (GIS) analysis tools such as nearest neighbor ratio (NNR). The study identified 46 physical healthcare facilities distributed across the space, categories in to two, namely, primary health care (PHC) facilities which are mostly provided by the state or local government constitutes the highest percentage 98% (45) while the secondary healthcare (SHC) constitutes 2% (1), this signified that primary health care facilities are predominant in the study area. Further, disaggregating the PHC, 14 were health posts; 9 health clinics; 5 dispensaries, 6 primary health care and 11 primary healthcare centres' (PHCC). The average nearest neighbor summary for the study area shows the significant level and the critical level which indicates a random distribution pattern of health care facilities in the area. Furthermore, the nearest neighbor ratio for the spatial pattern of health care facilities in the area is 1.088455 with critical value (z-score) of 1.135162 at 0.256307 level of significance (p-value), therefore, since the z-score is approximately 1.14 which is less than the standard critical value of 2.58, then the pattern is significantly even which greater than 1% (0.01 level of significance), this affirms that the locational pattern of health care facilities in Nangere local government area is statistically random. The study concluded that there were inequalities in the spatial distribution of healthcare facilities in Nangere local government area of Yobe state.