ArticleBMC public health2019
Geographic accessibility to public health facilities providing tuberculosis testing services at point-of-care in the upper east region, Ghana.
Article in BMC public health, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 30 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
30 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Implementation determinants of rapid diagnostic tests for fever management in sub-Saharan Africa: a mixed-studies systematic review.Nature communications · 2026Pooled it
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- Spatial Distribution of COVID-19 Diagnostic Services in Mopani District, Limpopo Province, South Africa.Public health challenges · 2025Article
- Association between the Survey-based Women's Empowerment (SWPER) index and barriers to healthcare in sub-Saharan Africa.International health · 2025Article
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- Geographical Access to Point-of-care diagnostic tests for diabetes, anaemia, Hepatitis B, and human immunodeficiency virus in the Bono Region, Ghana.BMC health services research · 2024Article
- Sustainable solutions to barriers of point-of-care diagnostic testing services in health facilities without laboratories in the bono region, Ghana: a qualitative study.BMC primary care · 2024Article
- Using geographic rescue time contours, point-of-care strategies, and spatial care paths to prepare island communities for global warming, rising oceans, and weather disasters.International journal of health geographics · 2023Article
- Geographic availability of and physical accessibility to tuberculosis diagnostic tests in Ghana: a cross-sectional survey.BMC health services research · 2023Article
- Predicting health services utilization using a score of perceived barriers to medical care: evidence from rural Senegal.BMC health services research · 2023Article
- Acceptability of decentralizing childhood tuberculosis diagnosis in low-income countries with high tuberculosis incidence: Experiences and perceptions from health care workers in Sub-Saharan Africa and South-East Asia.PLOS global public health · 2023Article
- Spatial and Socioeconomic Inequalities in Accessibility to Healthcare Services in South Korea.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- Barriers to tuberculosis case finding in primary and secondary health facilities in Ghana: perceptions, experiences and practices of healthcare workers.BMC health services research · 2022Article
- Use of Physical Accessibility Modelling in Diagnostic Network Optimization: A Review.Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Review
- Differences between gridded population data impact measures of geographic access to healthcare in sub-Saharan Africa.Communications medicine · 2022Article
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- Geographic barriers to achieving universal health coverage: evidence from rural Madagascar.Health policy and planning · 2021Article
- Identification of TB space-time clusters and hotspots in OuestPublic health action · 2021Article
- Geographical access to point-of-care testing for hypertensive disorders of pregnancy as an integral part of maternal healthcare in Ghana.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2020Article
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Authors and funding
7 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundIn Ghana, limited evidence exists about the geographical accessibility to health facilities providing tuberculosis (TB) diagnostic services to facilitate early diagnosis and treatment. Therefore, we aimed to assess the geographic accessibility to public health facilities providing TB testing services at point-of-care (POC) in the Upper East Region (UER), Ghana.
methodsWe assembled detailed spatial data on all 10 health facilities providing TB testing services at POC, and landscape features influencing journeys. These data were used in a geospatial model to estimate actual distance and travel time from the residential areas of the population to health facilities providing TB testing services. Maps displaying the distance values were produced using ArcGIS Desktop v10.4. Spatial distribution of the health facilities was done using spatial autocorrelation (Global Moran's Index) run in ArcMap 10.4.1. We also applied remote sensing through satellite imagery analysis to map out residential areas and identified locations for targeted improvement in the UER.
resultsOf the 13 districts in the UER, 4 (31%) did not have any health facility providing TB testing services. In all, 10 public health facilities providing TB testing services at POC were available in the region representing an estimated population to health facility ratio of 125,000 people per facility. Majority (60%) of the health facilities providing TB testing services in the region were in districts with a total population greater than 100,000 people. Majority (62%) of the population resident in the region were located more than 10 km away from a health facility providing TB testing services. The mean distance ± standard deviation to the nearest public health facility providing TB testing services in UER was 33.2 km ± 13.5. Whilst the mean travel time using a motorized tricycle speed of 20 km/h to the nearest facility providing TB testing services in the UER was 99.6 min ± 41.6. The results of the satellite imagery analysis show that 51 additional health facilities providing TB testing services at POC are required to improve geographical accessibility. The results of the spatial autocorrelation analysis show that the spatial distribution of the health facilities was dispersed (z-score = - 2.3; p = 0.02).
conclusionThere is poor geographic accessibility to public health facilities providing TB testing services at POC in the UER of Ghana. Targeted improvement of rural PHC clinics in the UER to enable them provide TB testing services at POC is highly recommended.
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