ABSTRACT

This study determined the benefits of Primary Health Care programmes to rural women in South East Nigeria. The study adopted a descriptive survey research design. A sample of 395 respondents which comprised 226 Young and 169 Middle-aged rural women drawn from a population of 34, 859 rural women in the South East were used for the study. The sample size was determined using the Taro Yamene sampling formula. The study adopted a multi-staged sampling procedure. The instrument for data collection was a 57-item questionnaire titled Benefits of Primary Health Care Questionnaire (BPHCQ). The copies of the instruments were validated by three experts; +one from Department of Adult and Continuing Education, Michael Okpara University of Agriculture, Umudike, another from Department of Adult and Non-Formal Education, University of Port Harcourt, Rivers State and the third from Measurement and Evaluation, Alvan Ikoku Federal College of Education Owerri. Cronbach Alpha statistic was used to determine the internal consistency of the instrument which yielded 0.87 coefficients. Four briefed research assistants helped in the administration and collection of the instrument. Out of 395 copies of the questionnaire administered, 376 copies representing 95 percent return rate were used for data analysis. Mean and standard deviation were used to answer the five research questions raised for the study while t-test statistic was used to test null hypotheses 1-5 at 0.05 level of significance. The findings showed among others that the benefits of maternal and child care aspect of primary health care to rural women in South East include that they: visit health centres when they are sick and for ante-natal care, use the advice on proper nutrition for both mother and child. It equally showed that the benefits of water and sanitation aspect of primary health care programme to rural women in South East include: using enough water to bathe, rinsing cooking utensils with plenty of water after washing as well as washing clothes as soon as they were dirty. There was no significant difference between the mean ratings of young and middle-aged rural women on the benefits of maternal and child-care programme to rural women in South East Nigeria. The study therefore recommended among others that School authorities should as part of their social corporate responsibilities organize seminars for rural women within the school locality on the benefits of maternal and child care programmes. It equally recommended that School administrators should make water and sanitation rules to enable children have them as their lifestyle and as school culture