Socio-economic Factors and Residents' Health in Nigeria Urban Centres

Abstract

This paper examined the various socioeconomic attributes (average income, educational attainment, occupation and household size) among the low, medium and high income earners in Osogbo, Osun State, Nigeria. It also assessed the effects of these socioeconomic attributes on the health of residents with a view to determining the implications that socioeconomic attributes have on the environmental related ill health on households (diarrhoea, vomiting, stomache ache, typoid and malaria) in the study area. Having divided Osogbo township map into equal grids, using Geographic Information System (GIS) and systematically sampled 432 household heads, the data collected is subjected to simple statistical analysis. The study revealed that incidence of ill heath especially malaria is prevalent among the working age group (20-50) years. In addition, respondents with secondary education and below have higher incidence of ill health than those that attained below university and university education. Respondents that engaged in business, petty trading and artisan jobs have higher incidence of ill health than civil servants and farmers. Also respondents that earned below #400000/annum have higher incidence of ill heath than those that earned above #400000/annum.The study then suggested the introduction of standard yardstick policy, which could be used to measure socioeconomic status of residents in relation to their health status determinants in this country. Introduction Socioeconomic inequalities in health are persistent, widespread, and widening. The lower the individual's position on the socioeconomic hierarchy, the worse their health status, whether measured by life expectancy, disability, or self-reported wellbeing (Kawachi, 1998).