Geospatial Analysis of Accessibility to Healthcare Facilities in Bauchi Local Government Area, Bauchi State, Nigeria

Abstract

In this study, a Geographic Information System (GIS) based network analysis was used to examine the accessibility to healthcare facilities in Bauchi Local Government Area of Bauchi State in northeastern Nigeria. Accessibility to the healthcare facilities in all the twenty two electoral wards in the area was established using OD (Origin Destination) matrix. The population weighted centroids of the electoral wards were used as origins and the healthcare facilities as destinations. Average nearest neighborhood analysis was carried out to determine the spatial pattern of distribution of the healthcare facilities. Findings of the study revealed that some wards like (Majidadi, Hardo and Makama-B) are poorly served with fewer healthcare facilities thanthe other wards like Kangere Galambi and Mun/Munsal. It was also found that the healthcare facilities in the area are highly insufficient in relation to the population in the area. In addition, accessibility to the healthcare facilities in wards like Tirwun, Daniya and K/Durum is a serious problem, because people in these areas have to travel very far distances to access the nearest available healthcare facilities. It is therefore recommended that the distribution of health facilities in the area should be based on the density of population of the electoral wards; and the location of a new health center should not be more than 4km from residential areas at a distance of not more than 20m from the major road.