ABSTRACT
The purpose of this study was to assess the provision and utilization of maternal and child health care (MCH) services among women of child-bearing age in Nigeria. The ex-post facto research design was used to study 368 subjects drawn from six Local Government Areas in Benue State. The subjects were drawn through stratified random sampling and convenient sampling techniques. A close-ended questionnaire was used to obtain responses from the subjects. Data collected for this study were analyzed using descriptive statistics of frequency, percentage, mean and standard deviation; and inferential statistics of t-test at 0.05 level of significance was used for all tests of significance. The findings showed that provision of maternal and child health care services to women of child-bearing age in Benue State is not significantly adequate, utilization of maternal and child health care services among women of child-bearing age in Benue State is not significantly influenced by location, by their educational status, by attitude of the health care personnel at service centres, and by cultural belief. Based on the findings, the following recommendations were made:
The Primary Health Care authorities should ensure that adequate provision of MCH services is a priority in view of its importance in minimizing maternal and infant morbidity and mortality. Maternal and child health care centres should be located as close as possible to the communities where the people live to encourage women of child-bearing age to go for regular antenatal and postnatal care. Health promotion programmes that centre on women with little or no education should be given at MCH centres/via the mass media with a view to enhancing their use of MCH services. The health care personnel at MCH service centres should improve their social relationship with clients to make the services user-friendly. This will boost mothers’ use of the services. The State Ministry of Health and other organizations concerned with health care should intensify their effort in public enlightenment on the importance of MCH services to help overcome existing cultural barriers in the use of the services among women of child bearing age.
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