Abstract:

Background: Millennium Village Project (MVP) is designed to harness the progress of the time-bound Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Objective: This study aimed to assess the perception of the Ikaram Millennium Village Project by the residents of Akoko North–West Local Government Area of Ondo State.

Method: A descriptive cross-sectional study of 496 residents of five out of the seven communities that make up the Ikaram MVP was done. The perceptions of the respondents were rated poor or good by scoring response to eight validated questions. Chi square test was used to assess significant association.

Result: The mean age of the respondents was 42.20±17.1 years, 250 (50.4%) were females, married were 311 (62.7%). Only 15(3%) were from other tribes aside Yoruba, 430(86.7%) have ever accessed the MVP health services. Poor perception was reported among 353 (82.1%) respondents. Among the Yorubas 79(17.1%) had good perception compared to 7(46.7%) from other tribes, p= 0.003. The location of the health facility contributed to the poor perception about the Ikaram MVP.

Conclusion: For community orientated health projects to be successful community participation is important.

Keywords: Millennium Village project, rural communities, perception, health facilities, community participation.

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