Analysis of the factors influencing utilization of healthcare services in rural Uganda a case of 2009/10 Uganda national household survey

Effective utilization of healthcare services is important because it restores individual’s health stock depreciated by an illness, healthy individuals are efficient investors in their own health, they are able to work and earn income thus contributing to improved welfare and economic productivity of the country. Therefore, the main of objective of this study was to empirically analyze factors influencing healthcare utilization in rural Uganda, A conditional utility maximization framework was adopted and using the Uganda National Household Survey data, (UNHS, 2009/10) conducted by Uganda Bureau of Statistics; we fit a multinomial logistic model. The results indicate that illness severity, cost of care, age, access to information, welfare index, distance to facility, marital status and to some extend education level, have a high association with healthcare utilization in rural Uganda. From the policy stand point of view, policies aimed at increasing school enrollment and efficient ways to learn, rural poverty eradication, staffing rural health centers and health workers motivation, improvement in rural infrastructure and intensification of rural electrification programs, may presumably have a tangible impact on healthcare utilization in rural Ugandans.