Measuring Inequality of Public Health Facility Provision in Bida Town, Niger State.

Abstract

The capacity of an urban enter to efficiently deliver its service is related to the availability, adequacy and efficiency of operation of its urban public infrastructure. Public health facilitates are therefore the fundamental necessities of any community ( urban or rural ), because the health of people has a direct correlation with the productive capacity and labour efficiency. Urban facilities include all the supportive service required to maintain the urban system. They may be conceived of as a medium of objects by which various urban services are delivered. The effective provision and efficient functioning vis a vis the population is an indication of general level of equality in life and entire environment; that’s the provision on facilities has to be in consonance with the population or demand such as family. This paper therefore, assesses the adequacy of public health facilities in Bida town using Gini coefficient. Attempt was made also to identify the existing health facilities in the study area; their types; location and distribution. The Gini coefficient (G) is one of the commonly most used indicators for measuring distribution. It is traditionally applied to the measurement of income inequality, but has also been applied to measure land inequality. The value of G ranges from 0-100 signifying that , the higher the G-value the greater the degree of inequality. The result reveals that distribution of public health facilitates in Bida town are not guided by population distribution in the wards. The inequality level was assessed using Lorenz Curve; it is observed that about 50% of the public health facilitates and quite a number of the inhabitants have no adequate access to these facilities. The field survey analysis however, reveals that the degree of inequality of public health facilitates provision and level of town minimal / low (gini coefficient (G)=42.8). the assessment of the adequacy of health facilities provision and level of patronages were also measured based on the field survey result using structured questionnaires. Total of 140 questionnaires were administered using systematic random sampling techniques. In this case, houses in the selected wards were chosen randomly to represent the entire houses in the area. 10 questionnaires each were assigned to 14 specified wards covering the entire Bida town. Therefore, the study analysis is based on 140 surveys questionnaires processed representing 100.0% response rate. The result shows that public health facilities service in Bida town is adequate 86(61.4%) and the level of patronage is determined by their cost of service (47%), nearness to homes (17%), and existing equipment (15%). It therefore, recommends that the government and other stakeholders or sponsoring agencies must ensure that all health institutions provide high quality services.