Gender and Health Status of People of Idah Local Government Area, of Kogi State, Nigeria

Abstract

This study analyzes the health status across gender in Idah Local Government Area of Kogi State, in 2018. The study took place between January and May 2018. This study considered diseases such as malaria, enteric fever, anemia, typhoid fever, diarrhea, hypertension, sepsis, peritonitis, heart failure, appendicitis, chicken pox, placenta prevail, sickle cell diseases, skeletal pain, asthma, head ache, pneumonia, convulsion and rashes. The study used secondary data on the trend in the reported diagnosis of these diseases by gender. The data on common diagnosed diseases in 2018 was obtained from Idah General Hospital data base (IGHD). The target population was restricted to the in and out-patients that patronized the hospital throughout 2018 and about 3,841 diagnosed cases of disease across gender was randomly sampled from the 10,455 recorded cases in the hospital data base. The descriptive (multiple bar chart) was used to present the data. The study findings revealed that female patronage level (70%) was higher than the male (30%). The study findings revealed that women patronize hospital more often than the men for diagnoses and possible treatments all year round (from January to December). It was recommended that there should be high level of sensitization for medical check-ups for both gender but most importantly the male gender especially rural dwellers, so as to improve the life expectancy of men like that of women.