Factors affecting the frequency of hospital trips among a predominantly rural population.

The frequency of hospital trips among the inhabitants of Nigeria's rural areas is affected by several factors. One obvious factor is the distance between potential patients and hospital facilities. And given the paucity of hospital facilities in rural areas, the distance factor is obviously an important one. However, the main focus of this paper is on the effect of some socio-economic and demographic characteristics on the frequency of hospital trips by rural inhabitants. The location of hospitals in close proximity to the user-population does not necessarily guarantee the full utilization of the facilities.