Geospatial analysis of healthcare facilities in Surulere Local Government Area of Lagos state

Abstract

The study is an assessment of the geographical distribution of healthcare facilities in Surulere Local Government Area (LGA) of Lagos state, Nigeria. The study relates the distribution of the healthcare facilities with population, distance from waterbody, road, and elevation using Fuzzy Analytical Hierarchy Process (FAHP). The FAHP is a Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) that provides a multidimensional approach to essential decision-making, in this case, the optimal locations of primary healthcare centres in areas of deficits. The spatial distribution of healthcare facilities in Surulere LGA shows uneven and deficiencies in the distribution, especially in Baruwa, Bale, Irone, Obele Oniwala, Odo-Oluwa, Agunbiade, Shitta Bank Olemoh wards. While the majority of the 183 health facilities were located in -Adeniran Ogunsanya, Osho, Coker, Ipanrin and Nuru-Oniwo political wards respectively. 28 of these facilities are government owned which is a course of concern in an area dominated by middle-to-low-income earners who cannot afford treatment in private facilities, especially if we consider that only 24 Primary Healthcare facilities are available for an area with a population of almost 700,000. The FAHP shows that the optimal location of new primary healthcare centres to meet the observed deficiencies are areas within Iponri/Eric Moore, Savage, and Adeniran Ogunsanya political wards because of their proximity to the road waterbody to aid easy access, located within areas of densely populated regions compared to surrounding areas to ensure easy and effective access to primary healthcare facilities and aid the general wellbeing of the citizenry. For effective healthcare coverage to be achieved in Surulere LGA, the paper recommends the adoption of geospatial techniques in the location and distribution of healthcare facilities.