ArticleBMC public health2019
Barriers to formal healthcare utilisation among poor older people under the livelihood empowerment against poverty programme in the Atwima Nwabiagya District of 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 42 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
42 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Aging trends, challenges, and policy framework within the Ghanaian context: a systematic review.BMC public health · 2026Pooled it
- Older adults' experiences of health seeking in rural areas in low- and middle-income countries: a systematic review of qualitative studies.Health policy and planning · 2026Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Multivariable regression modelling of structural, intermediary and demographic determinants of health literacy: evidence from unaccompanied migrants and statelessness-prone individuals in Ghana.Journal of health, population, and nutrition · 2026Article
- Associations between caregiver-provider communication quality and unmet care needs among older adults.BMC geriatrics · 2026Article
- Determinants of service utilization and satisfaction with sexual and reproductive health services among displaced and migrant populations in Nigeria: a cross-sectional study.Conflict and health · 2026Article
- Health consumers' use of mHealth applications in Ghana: a cross-sectional study.BMC public health · 2026Article
- Experience of dignified care among hospitalized patients: a phenomenological study.BMC health services research · 2026Article
- Associations between Caregiver-Provider Communication Quality and Unmet Care Needs Among Older Adults.Research square · 2025Article
- Towards good health and wellbeing: understanding health conditions and healthcare needs among informal caregivers of older adults in Ghana.Journal of health, population, and nutrition · 2025Article
- Factors influencing health service utilisation among older adults in the Tamale metropolis: a cross-sectional study based on Andersen's behavioural model.BMC geriatrics · 2025Article
- Factors influencing primary health care service provision to older adults in lagos, nigeria: understanding the experiences of the demand population.BMC public health · 2025Article
- "Her hospital card is missing": a qualitative investigation into the facilitators of and barriers to formal healthcare use among sickle cell patients in Ghana.BMC primary care · 2025Article
- Impact of Ghana's fee exemption policy on maternal health service utilisation: an inverse probability of treatment weighting analysis of pooled national data.Journal of global health · 2025Article
- Physical and financial access challenges to seeking child healthcare in a rural district in Ghana.PloS one · 2025Article
- Nurses' perception of threats to human dignity in caring for patients with COVID-19: A qualitative study.Heliyon · 2024Article
- Daily exercises uptake and associated factors among Social Security and National Insurance Trust pensioners in the Greater Accra Region of Ghana.Journal of health, population, and nutrition · 2024Article
- National health insurance enrolment among elderly ghanaians: the role of food security status.BMC primary care · 2024Article
- Caregiver burden and health-related quality of life: A study of informal caregivers of older adults in Ghana.Journal of health, population, and nutrition · 2024Article
- Improving health-seeking behaviours of older adults in urban Africa: A holistic approach and strategic initiatives.Journal of global health · 2024Article
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3 authors.
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Abstract
backgroundEven 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.
methodsInterviews 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.
resultsFour 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).
conclusionsConsidering 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.
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