UTILIZATION OF CHILD HEALTH SERVICES IN PRIMARY HEALTH CARE CENTRES IN NSUKKA HEALTH DISTRICT

Abstract

The study was designed to determine the level of utilization of child health services in primary health care centres in Nsukka health district. Four specific objectives with corresponding research questions were posed and three hypotheses were postulated to guide the study. The study used the descriptive survey design with sample of 366 mothers. The instrument for data collection was questionnaire. Means and percentages were used to analyze the descriptive data, while t-Test and ANOVA statistics were used to test the hypotheses. Major finding of the study were as follows: Mothers utilized child health services effectively. There was no significant difference in the level of utilization of child health services according to level of education at .05. There was no significant difference in the level of utilization of child health services according to mothers’ occupation. There was significant difference in the level of utilization of growth monitoring, nutritional services, curative services and immunisation services according to residential location of mothers. The researcher recommended that government should see that primary health centres are located equally in both urban and rural area and that health workers should strengthen their teaching on the utilization of all the components of CHs especially growth monitoring and curative services during antenatal visit.