Locational and Coverage Analysis of the Vital Registration Centres In Gombe State, Nigeria

Abstract

This study assesses the levels of spatial accessibility, birth registration coverage and efficiency of vital registration centres in Gombe State. This was achieved through mapping out the locations and catchment areas of the existing vital registration centres; determining the influence of distance from vital registration centres and identifying areas where birth registration coverage is high. Both attribute and geometric data were used, and for the measurement of distance, Euclidean Distance was used. The study indicates that there is more concentration of a large number of the centres (11) on a small land mass (53km 2) of urban Gombe and hence making their availability in the rural areas distorted and accessibility poorer, especially by the rural communities of the five LGAs with larger land expanse of 8,964km 2 which shared the remaining 11 centres of the 22. The result of the study also shows that, with additional 7-10 registration centres in the five rural LGAs the average settlement distance would change from 24.12km to 2.09km (trekable distance). The study recommends the usage of location-allocation models for the optimum location of any new centres with sizeable catchment areas, full enforcement of the registration law and embarking on mass enlightenment campaigns and establishment of more centres.