Spatial Analysis of the Distribution Pattern of Primary Healthcare Facilities in Ile – Ife Metropolis Using Geographic Information System

The importance of health to the overall wellbeing of every nation cannot be overemphasized. Therefore, there is a need for effective planning and management of the healthcare facilities in order to achieve optimum result in the country for equitable distribution of health facilities as a factor for sustaining the population in the cities.

This research explores potential use of Goespatial Techniques for analysing public healthcare facilities accessibility and distribution pattern in Ile- Ife metropolis. Primary and secondary data were acquired. Primary data include questionnaire administration and Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver’s coordinate points of the health facilities while secondary data include administrative map of Ile-Ife metropolis and geo-eye satellite image 2011. These set of data were integrated into Arcgis environment and the following spatial analyses were carried out; overlay operation, statistical analysis and network analysis.

The results obtained are: study area map, digital road network, most centrally located facilities, mean center, standard distance, directional distribution, kernel density and nearest neighbourhood ratio (NNR=1.068821). The Nearest Neighbour Ratio shows a random distribution pattern for health care facility. The service area maps were also produced to show the total travel time from the points of resident to the nearest healthcare facilities within a given time of 2, 3, 5 and 7 minutes. The total area served by the healthcare facilities in km2 was determined. From the results it shows that the study area is fairly provided with health care facilities. However, they are concentrated around the center of the town while other areas are inadequately served. Primary healthcare facilities should be provided to serve the areas that are underserved in the study area. The centrally located primary health center should be well equipped by the government so as to serve the population better. Improvement should be made on healthcare provision by having a standardized regulation for establishing primary healthcare facilities.