Although major gains
were made in the reduction of
childhood health indicators in the
previous decade, stagnations or
reversals were seen in many
countries since the 1990s. Despite
presence of primary health centers
(PHC) in Nigeria, there are still high
levels of morbidity and mortality
among children because the quality
of child health services falls short of
what it could be in the country.
Supportive supervision of PHCs
should also improve the quality of
child health services. This study
assessed the level of clients’
satisfaction with care received and
the quality of supervision of child
health services in selected PHC
facilities of Nnewi, Nigeria.
The study design was cross sectional.
Four health facilities were
selected by simple random sampling
technique from a list of 12 public
PHC facilities that provide at least
three of the range of essential child
health services. Using interviewer
administered questionnaire, data
were collected from 305 caregivers
and analyzed accordingly. Also key
informant interviews were used to
elicit in fo r matio n fa cilit y
supervisio n frequency and
adequacy.
The mean age of the mainly female
caregivers was 31.9 ± 9.4 years.
Majority of the caregivers attended
health facilities closest to them but
18.5% of the 65 who do not, said
they did not like the health workers.
Although more than 80% of clients
were satisfied with quality of child
health services received, yet 41.3%
of them felt that the number of service
days were inadequate. None of
the health facilities had a work plan,
supervision schedule or supervision
checklist. Increasing the number of
service days and providing supervision
schedules and checklists at the
health facilities can improve caregiver
satisfaction and hopefully
enhance quality of child health services
at the PHCs