Spatial Analysis of Healthcare Facilities in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja Nigeria

Abstract

Over the second half of the twentieth century, the world has experienced enormous health improvements from the use of various technologies in the diagnosis, treatment, monitoring and reporting various disease. However, developing countries have benefited unequally from health gains, with many, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), continuing to experience high mortality. This study aims to carry out a spatial analysis of healthcare facilities in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja, Nigeria with a view of identifying the pattern of distribution of healthcare facilities. This aim was achieved by identifying and mapping the various health facilities in the FCT. The directory of Hospitals was collected from the Hospital Management Board of the FCT and the geographic location were collected using a handheld GPS device. The administrative map of Abuja and the Area Councils were digitized to obtain shapefiles for various classes of roads, railway lines, waterways and boundaries of the area councils. A geospatial database was created in the ArcMap 10.7 environment using the data collected. The locations of all healthcare facilities were plotted, and the spatial spread of healthcare facilities were analyses and queried. The healthcare facilities distribution shows a clustered pattern but underserving the study area with an average nearest neighbor ratio (NNR) for healthcare facilities in the study of 0.34 (p < 0.001) and the Z-score was −40.9 (p < 0.001), the low Z-score value indicate there is a less than 1% likelihood that this clustered pattern could be the result of deliberate planning. The healthcare facilities distribution pattern suggests a disorderly and inefficient distribution of healthcare facilities. Owing to the significance of the underserving of the urban area councils by healthcare facilities, policymakers may consider placing additional healthcare facilities to reduce the stress on the available healthcare facilities and personnel.

Keywords: Spatial Analysis, GIS, Healthcare, Facilities

DOI: 10.7176/JEES/11-1-06

Publication date: January 31^st 2021