Utilisation differentials in a rural Nigerian health centre.

The Ala-Idowa health centre was established in 1980 to serve the two contiguous communities of Ala and Idowa with population of 3960 and 6580 respectively. Situated reasonably between the two communities, there is adequate physical accessibility to the health centre from both sides. The population structure of the combined community was determined through a household survey involving 125 households selected systematically from the total of 2500 households. A comparison is presented between this structure and that of the population of attendees at the outpatient department of the Ala/Idowa health centre as recorded in the outpatient register with a view to discerning differentials in utilisation among different age groups. The data showed that those under the age of 15 years made more use of the health centre services than any other age group. Also, of the total of 958 patients for whom a diagnosis was recorded, 565 (56%) presented with an infection or infestation alone while another 4% presented with an infection together with another condition. Malaria accounted for 358 (63.4%) of all reported cases of infection/infestation. It is hoped that the findings of this study can be used to further target health centre services at the appropriate groups within the community as well as directed to those conditions, particularly communicable and preventable, that continue to exert great morbidity on the populations of developing communities.