OBJECTIVES

The economy of any Nation is highly dependent on the health of her people. For humans to live and function to their fullest capacities, the use of health facilities is crucial. However, differences in healthcare remains a critical problem facing health care delivery systems in Nigeria. We aim to assess the factors affecting the access to quality healthcare services in Nigeria.

METHODS

A search for literatures was carried out in PubMed using MeSH with the keywords "social determinants", "factors", "access", "quality healthcare services ", and "Nigeria" which also serve as the inclusion criteria. The literature used were those published between 2012 and 2018. A total of twelve (12) literatures representing ten (10) qualitative studies and two (2) mixed methods were used. Data were extracted and summarized to highlight factors influencing the access to quality healthcare services in Nigeria.

RESULTS

We identified the social factors that determine or impede the access/use of those services. Such factors include low income, low level of education, negative attitudes towards health facilities, gender, beliefs, distant of facilities away from neighborhoods, etc. These factors contribute to differences in access to healthcare causing persons with high socioeconomic status (i.e greater income and higher educational attainment) to use health facilities more than those with poor income and low educational background. However, the systematic review revealed that low income (poverty) ranks higher among other factors that influence the use of health facilities in Nigeria.

CONCLUSIONS

The extent of development of the society largely determines the quality of her population's health and how fairly health facilities aregards distributed across the social spectrum. These factors prevent the improvement of the healthcare system and the economy of the nation as a whole. We recommend that access to quality healthcare services be improved in Nigeria by improving the socioeconomic status of the citizens.