Journal of
Public Health and Epidemiology

  • Abbreviation: J. Public Health Epidemiol.
  • Language: English
  • ISSN: 2141-2316
  • DOI: 10.5897/JPHE
  • Start Year: 2009
  • Published Articles: 655

Full Length Research Paper

Perceived quality of healthcare provided by patent medicine vendors in rural and remote communities of low- and medium-Income countries (LMICs): A perspective from Nigeria

Oluwasegun John Ibitoye
  • Oluwasegun John Ibitoye
  • Department of Public Health, Texila American University, Georgetown, Guyana.
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Onoja Mathew Akpa
  • Onoja Mathew Akpa
  • Department of Epidemiology & Medical Statistics, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria.
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Olugbenga Asaolu
  • Olugbenga Asaolu
  • Department of Public Health, School of Public and Allied Health, Babcock University, Ilishan-Remo, Ogun State, Nigeria.
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Gbadegesin O. Alawode
  • Gbadegesin O. Alawode
  • Association for Reproductive and Family Health, Lagos, Nigeria.
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Adeniyi Adeniran
  • Adeniyi Adeniran
  • Department of Public Health, School of Public and Allied Health, Babcock University, Ilishan-Remo, Ogun State, Nigeria.
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Mustapha Bello
  • Mustapha Bello
  • Nuffield Center for International Health and Development, University of Leeds, Leeds, UK.
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Nannim Nalda
  • Nannim Nalda
  • School of Health and Social Care, Staffordshire University, Stoke-on-Trent, UK.
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Olubunmi Ojelade
  • Olubunmi Ojelade
  • Department of Public Health, School of Public and Allied Health, Babcock University, Ilishan-Remo, Ogun State, Nigeria.
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Adebusola Oyeyemi
  • Adebusola Oyeyemi
  • Department of Public Health, School of Public and Allied Health, Babcock University, Ilishan-Remo, Ogun State, Nigeria.
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Oluwagbemiga Obembe
  • Oluwagbemiga Obembe
  • Department of Public Health, Texila American University, Georgetown, Guyana.
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Adaeze Ugwu
  • Adaeze Ugwu
  • Departement of Public Health, Faculty of Health, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, UK.
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Chisom Emeka
  • Chisom Emeka
  • Department of Public Health, School of Public and Allied Health, Babcock University, Ilishan-Remo, Ogun State, Nigeria.
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Abdulmalik Abubakar
  • Abdulmalik Abubakar
  • Departement of Public Health, Faculty of Health, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, UK.
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Christopher Obanubi
  • Christopher Obanubi
  • Department of Public Administration, Bayero University Kano, Kano State, Nigeria.
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Adebayo O. Amao
  • Adebayo O. Amao
  • Lagos State University College of Medicine, Lagos State, Nigeria
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Ishaq K. Salako
  • Ishaq K. Salako
  • Department of Public Health, Texila American University, Georgetown, Guyana.
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  •  Received: 27 June 2023
  •  Accepted: 04 August 2023
  •  Published: 31 August 2023

Abstract

Perceived quality of healthcare is a strong predictor of continuous utilization of healthcare. There is dearth of current evidence on the perception of the quality of the healthcare received from patent medicine vendors (PMVs) in low- and medium-income countries (LMICs). This study, therefore, through the lens of hard-to-reach communities in Nigeria seeks to assess the perception of the quality of healthcare provided by PMVs as well its determinants. It was a cross-sectional study of 339 residents of 20 purposively selected rural and remote villages conducted between January and May, 2022 in Jigawa State, Nigeria. We adapted, digitized, and used the interviewer-administered questionnaire on laypeople’s perception of the quality of primary care to collect the data for the study. Data were analysed with the Stata version 16 and statistical significance was determined at P<0.05. We found that 62.5% of the rural and remote community dwellers that were studied perceived poor quality of healthcare services provided by the PMVs. Participants who were older than 44 years, are of the Hausa tribe and have health insurance coverage were more likely to perceive good quality care compared to others. The findings highlight that while many dwellers of rural and remote communities receive healthcare services from PMVs, they perceive the quality of care they receive to be poor. This could potentially limit the success of any proposed expansion of more basic health services to the PMVs in rural and remote communities.

Key words: Patent medicine vendors, perceived, quality of care, rural and remote.