COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT IN HEALTH CARE PROGRAMMES IN UMUNZE ORUMBA SOUTH LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA ANAMBRA STATE
ABSTRACT
This work investigated Community Involvement in Health Care (CIH) programmes in Umunze, Orumba South Local Government Area of Anambra State. The study specifically verified the extent of involvement of the community in preventive, promotive and curative components of health programme; reasons behind the extent of community involvement in health programmes, community agencies behind community involvement in health programmes; gender and age differences in community involvement in health programmes; community agencies behind community involvement in health programmes; and relative involvement of the various villages in Umunze in health programmes. The population for study comprised twenty-two health workers and 37409 adult members of the population in Umunze. A cross-sectional survey design was employed in the study. A sample of 300 adults (comprising 150 males and 150 females) was used in the study. Data were collected using structured questionnaire and key informants interview. The mean (x), standard deviation, t-test and analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used for data analysis. Results showed that the community involvement in the various components of health programmes varied: The community was involved in preventive health to a great extend; promotive health to a little extent; and curative health programme to a very great extent. The results also revealed, among others, that several reasons were behind community involvement in health programmes such as availability of qualified health personnel, awareness of health needs, presence of female caregiver. The hypotheses tested at.05 level of significance showed that there was significant difference in the extent of community involvement in health programmes according to gender, age and villages. Females were more rinvolved than males in preventive and curative health programmes. The age brackets 18 – 25 and 46 – 55 were more involved than others in curative health. Among the villages, Ugwuano and Amuda villages led in the various health programmes. The need for the use of local and modern media to promote greater community involvement in promotive health; and greater empowerment of women and certain age groups for greater participation in matters concerning health programmes, were recommended.