Utilization of Maternal and Child Health Care Services among Nursing Mothers in Logo Local Government Area of Benue State, Nigeria

Abstract

The study sought to determine the level of utilization of maternal and child health care services among nursing mothers in Logo Local Government Area (LGA) of Benue State, Nigeria. Four specific objectives and two null hypotheses guided the study. The descriptive survey research, design was employed for the study. The population for the study consisted of 10,310 nursing mothers who attended the Primary Health Care centers in Logo LGA. Simple random sampling technique was used to draw 515 nursing mothers. The instrument for data collection was the researchers designed questionnaire named ‘Utilization of Maternal and Child Health care Questionnaire (UMCHCQ)’ which was validated by 3 experts in the Department of Human Kinetics and Health Education University of Calabar, College of Education Katsina-Ala campus. Results of the study indicated that there was effective utilization of ante-natal health care services (overall x =3.34, SD=0.82); effective utilization of child health care services (overall x =2.68, SD=0.95), although some services: food supplement (x =2.21, SD=1.03), general examination (x=2.43, SD =1.05, and vitamin supplement (x=2.49, SD =1.05) were lowly utilized. There were no significant differences in the utilization of ante-natal and child health care services based on mothers age: ante-natal care (crit-t =1.86 > cal –t =0.41); child health care (crit –t= 1.86 > cal-t=0.94) at .05 level of significance. The researchers recommend among others that the immunization tempo should be maintained and extended to other maternal and child health care services to promote utilization of those services.