Geographical Analysis of the Patterns of Healthcare Facilities and HIV/ AIDS Response Sites in Benue State, Nigeria

Abstract

This study analysed the spatial patterns and characteristics of healthcare facilities and HIV/AIDS response sites; and the relationship between the distribution of population and healthcare facilities/HIV/AIDS response sites in Benue State, the State with the highest record of HIV/AIDS in Nigeria. Primary and secondary data were used for the study. GPS receiver was used to obtain the geographic coordinates of healthcare facilities and HIV/AIDS response sites; and questionnaire to acquire attribute data of the sites. The secondary data used included the list of all healthcare facilities at community and LGA levels, maps, and the population of the state. The spatial analyses of the phenomena of interest were done based on the LGAs. All the 1243 healthcare facilities in the 23 LGAs of the state were captured in the study. Four key HIV/AIDS services (VCT, PMTCT, ART and HBC) were purposively selected for the study. The analogue map of Benue State was processed and used for various GIS analyses and cartographic enhancement for the purpose of report presentation. The study identified three categories of Healthcare Facilities (primary, secondary and tertiary) in the state. There existed spatial variation in the distribution of the various healthcare facilities in the state. The PHCs were observed to be more widely distributed in the state (93.4%) than the SHCs (6.3%) and THCs (0.2%) which were observed to be largely concentrated in the urban LGAs. Also, specialised HIV/AIDS services like PMTCT and ART were observed to be concentrated in the urban LGAs. The population/Facility ratio for PHCF, SHCF and THCF were 2,371:1; 34,413:1; and 1,376,539:1 respectively. There existed a direct relationship between both population and distribution of healthcare facilities (r = 0.694, p > 0.5); and population and the distribution of HIV/AIDS response sites (r = 0.664, p > 0.5) in the state. The study concluded that the problem of HIV/AIDS in Benue State is more engendered by the paucity of information about the availability of response sites than their inadequacy; and recommends that a robust database for healthcare facilities and HIV/AIDS response sites be developed at all levels in order to enhance information flow to policy formulators and by extension people who require healthcare and HIV/AIDS services.