European Union Development Aid and Primary Healthcare Delivery in Rural Anambra State

This study assesses the contribution of European Union development aid to primary healthcare delivery in selected rural communities of Anambra State, South-East Nigeria. Despite decades of international development assistance, rural healthcare access in Anambra remains uneven, with wide disparities between urban centres and village-level health facilities. The EU, through its European Development Fund (EDF) and bilateral programmes, has channelled resources into health infrastructure in parts of South-East Nigeria, yet the outcomes of such interventions have not been systematically documented at the undergraduate research level. This descriptive study employs a mixed-methods approach, combining structured questionnaires administered to community health workers and facility managers in five local government areas of Anambra with documentary analysis of EU project completion reports and Anambra State Ministry of Health records from 2020 to 2024. The research seeks to identify which EU-supported interventions have produced measurable improvements in maternal and child health outcomes, and which have faced implementation challenges such as sustainability gaps or community disengagement. Findings are expected to offer practical recommendations for the design of future EU health aid programmes in South-East Nigeria and to provide undergraduate students with a grounded understanding of how European development actors interact with local health governance structures. Keywords: EU development aid, primary healthcare, rural communities, Anambra State, South-East Nigeria.