Why does inaccessibility widely exist in healthcare in Ghana? Understanding the reasons from past to present

Peprah, Prince; Budu, Hayford Isaac; Agyemang-Duah, Williams; Abalo, Emmanuel Mawuli; Gyimah, Akwasi Adjei

doi:10.1007/s10389-019-01019-x

Cited by 19 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…In agreement with Peprah et al's [1] study in rural Ghana, the present study findings suggest that a mobile phone-based health care system can easily be adopted and implemented in rural Ghana, as all the participants expressed their willingness to adopt and use the intervention. The findings of the current study exhibit the practicability of using mobile phones to access health care at the rural areas of Ghana and other rural African communities.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

“…The topic of removing barriers to healthcare services to improve access is a noteworthy matter in Ghana, especially in rural and remote areas [1,2]. Over the years, Ghana's health system has been characterised by multifaceted access issues despite recent gains [2].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Over the years, Ghana's health system has been characterised by multifaceted access issues despite recent gains [2]. Certain factors such as inadequate professional staff, inadequate basic equipment, infrastructural deficit [2,3], poverty [1][2][3], societal cultural norms and practices, distance [2,3], transportation and lack of health insurance [2,3] have acted severely as barriers to formal healthcare use in most parts of Ghana, particularly the rural areas [1]. However, innovative solutions to these multifaceted barriers are emerging recently [4].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This technology is proving effective by intensifying access to basic healthcare and health education not only in the developed world, but also in developing countries where several barriers exist in the health sector [8][9][10][11]. This is because mHealth is considered cost-effective as it removes the task of travelling from distant places to hospitals and health centres, especially in rural areas where health facilities are mostly located in large towns [1,2,12].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Lessening barriers to healthcare in rural Ghana: providers and users’ perspectives on the role of mHealth technology. A qualitative exploration

Peprah

Abalo

Agyemang-Duah

et al. 2020

BMC Med Inform Decis Mak

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Background: Key barriers to healthcare use in rural Ghana include those of economic, social, cultural and institutional. Amid this, though rarely recognised in Ghanaian healthcare settings, mHealth technology has emerged as a viable tool for lessening most healthcare barriers in rural areas due to the high mobile phone penetration and possession rate. This qualitative study provides an exploratory assessment of the role of mHealth in reducing healthcare barriers in rural areas from the perspective of healthcare users and providers.Method: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 30 conveniently selected healthcare users and 15 purposively selected healthcare providers within the Birim South District in the Eastern Region of Ghana between June 2017 and April 2018. Data were thematically analysed and normative standpoints of participants were presented as quotations.Results: The main findings were that all the healthcare users had functioning mobile phones, however, their knowledge and awareness about mHealth was low. Meanwhile, rural health care users and providers were willing to use mHealth services involving phone call in the future as they perceived the technology to play an important role in lessening healthcare barriers. Nevertheless, factors such as illiteracy, language barrier, trust, quality of care, and mobile network connectivity were perceived as barriers associated with using mHealth in rural Ghana. Conclusion:The support for mHealth service is an opportunity for the development of synergistic relationship between health policy planners and mobile network companies in Ghana to design efficient communication and connectivity networks, accessible, localised, user-friendly and cost-effective mobile phone-based health programmes to assist in reducing healthcare barriers in rural Ghana.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Lessening barriers to healthcare in rural Ghana: providers and users’ perspectives on the role of mHealth technology. A qualitative exploration

Peprah

Abalo

Agyemang-Duah

et al. 2020

BMC Med Inform Decis Mak

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“…Issues such as financial problems, limited health workforce, and facilities are the major challenges facing the healthcare system in Ghana [25,26]. Consequently, the utilisation of formal healthcare services among older people involves numerous barriers [10,27,28].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Barriers to formal healthcare utilisation among poor older people under the livelihood empowerment against poverty programme in the Atwima Nwabiagya District of Ghana

Agyemang-Duah

Peprah

2019

BMC Public Health

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Background Even though there is a growing literature on barriers to formal healthcare use among older people, little is known from the perspective of vulnerable older people in Ghana. Involving poor older people under the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) programme, this study explores barriers to formal healthcare use in the Atwima Nwabiagya District of Ghana. Methods Interviews and focus group discussions were conducted with 30 poor older people, 15 caregivers and 15 formal healthcare providers in the Atwima Nwabiagya District of Ghana. Data were analysed using the thematic analytical framework, and presented based on an a posteriori inductive reduction approach. Results Four main barriers to formal healthcare use were identified: physical accessibility barriers (poor transport system and poor architecture of facilities), economic barriers (low income coupled with high charges, and non-comprehensive nature of the National Health Insurance Scheme [NHIS]), social barriers (communication/language difficulties and poor family support) and unfriendly nature of healthcare environment barriers (poor attitude of healthcare providers). Conclusions Considering these barriers, removing them would require concerted efforts and substantial financial investment by stakeholders. We argue that improvement in rural transport services, implementation of free healthcare for poor older people, strengthening of family support systems, recruitment of language translators at the health facilities and establishment of attitudinal change programmes would lessen barriers to formal healthcare use among poor older people. This study has implications for health equity and health policy framework in Ghana. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12889-019-7437-2) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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Towards advancement of nursing in Ghana: The role of the Ghanaian‐Diaspora Nursing Alliance (G‐DNA)

Hinneh,

Osei Baah,

Amoako

et al. 2023

Nursing Open

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Why does inaccessibility widely exist in healthcare in Ghana? Understanding the reasons from past to present

Cited by 19 publications

References 30 publications

Lessening barriers to healthcare in rural Ghana: providers and users’ perspectives on the role of mHealth technology. A qualitative exploration

Lessening barriers to healthcare in rural Ghana: providers and users’ perspectives on the role of mHealth technology. A qualitative exploration

Barriers to formal healthcare utilisation among poor older people under the livelihood empowerment against poverty programme in the Atwima Nwabiagya District of Ghana

Towards advancement of nursing in Ghana: The role of the Ghanaian‐Diaspora Nursing Alliance (G‐DNA)

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