CHALLENGES OF COMMUNICATING PRIMARY HEALTH CARE IN RURAL COMMUNITIES IN NIGER STATE

CHALLENGES OF COMMUNICATING PRIMARY HEALTH CARE IN RURAL COMMUNITIES IN NIGER STATE

ABSTRACT

The core of the Nigeria’s health policy is the primary health care. This is because it focuses more on health needs of the rural populace. An attempt has been made in this study to investigate the challenges of communicating Primary Health Care programme in rural communities in Niger State. Three local government areas were selected for this study. They include, Lapai, Suleja and Kotangora respectively. Both questionnaire and in-depth interview were used  for  response analyses. The study found out that, for the potential rural dwellers to be enhanced with the knowledge and information of Primary Health Care Services in the rural communities, both modern and traditional means of communication must work as a team, taking in to cognizance the unique socio-cultural context in which health actions are taken. Community should be involved in the critical stages of project planning, evaluation and decision making processes. To this end, the researcher recommends that both government and health providers should make adequate provision for environmental health and health education to improve the condition of health of the rural communities to attain the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) of 2015 and beyond.