Perception of community health extension services among women in a rural community in Ilorin East, Kwara State, Nigeria

Background: Rural women in developing countries, including Nigeria are faced with a number of health problems with very limited access to health care facilities. This study assessed the perception of women in rural areas on community health extension services in Ilorin, Kwara State. Methods: One hundred and twenty rural dwelling women were sampled from six rural communities selected by simple random sampling method. A structured questionnaire was used for data collection. Data was analyzed using SPSS version 18. Level of significance was set at p-value of ≤ 0.05. Results: The mean age of the respondents was 45 years and 69.3% of them were married. Over a third (36.7%) of the respondents, had no formal education and 40.0% were farmers with an average monthly income of ？14,146.00. High awareness level on community health extension services was observed but 65.5% lived at a distance beyond 3 km from the health centers and they usually trek to the facilities. Maternal, child care services and first aid treatment were available; however, mental health was poorly ranked in terms of effectiveness of community health extension services provided in the area. Age (p<0.001) was inversely significant while educational level (r = 0.334, p < 0.01) was positively related to the frequency of availability of community health extension services. Conclusion: The respondents were aware of community health extension services, however, most of them live far from the health facilities. We recommend that Community Health Extension Workers should embark on home visits in order to improve access to health services in the rural communities.