Accessing Healthcare in Ghana: Challenges Encountered and Strategies Adopted by Persons with Disabilities in Accra

Rachael Abrokwah (1), Efua Mantey Aggire-Tettey (2), Augustina Naami (3)
(1) Department of Social Work, University of Ghana, Legon, Accra, Ghana,
(2) Department of Social Work, University of Ghana, Legon, Accra, Ghana,
(3) Department of Social Work, University of Ghana, Legon, Accra, Ghana
https://doi.org/10.5463/dcid.v31i1.888

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Issue
Vol. 31 No. 1 (2020): Spring 2020
Submitted
September 15, 2020
Published
August 6, 2020
Keywords:
    access to healthcare, disability, Ghana, challenges to healthcare
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Abstract

Purpose: Access to quality and timely healthcare is essential to the health and wellbeing of all individuals. Unfortunately, the more vulnerable populations, such as persons with disabilities, encounter a number of barriers in accessing healthcare services. This study focusses on barriers that persons with disabilities face in accessing healthcare in the Accra metropolis, and the strategies they adopt when they are ill.

Method: A phenomenological approach was employed to achieve a deeper and holistic understanding of the challenges encountered when accessing healthcare. Purposive sampling technique was used to recruit 21 persons with disabilities, between 18 and 64 years of age, from the organisations of persons with disabilities in Accra.

Results: The study revealed that physical, financial, communication, transportation, and attitudinal barriers, as well as healthcare professionals’ lack of knowledge about disability issues, limited access of persons with disabilities to healthcare. The majority of persons with disabilities preferred to stay at home and self-medicate or depend on herbal medicine, rather than seek help from healthcare professionals.

Conclusion: Healthcare for all is a right that every human being is entitled to, irrespective of disability. The removal of barriers restricting access to healthcare for persons with disabilities is a necessity to achieve Goal 3 of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Agenda 2030.

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Authors

Rachael Abrokwah
Department of Social Work, University of Ghana, Legon, Accra
Efua Mantey Aggire-Tettey
Department of Social Work, University of Ghana, Legon, Accra
Augustina Naami
Department of Social Work, University of Ghana, Legon, Accra
anaami@ug.edu.gh (Primary Contact)
Author Biographies

Rachael Abrokwah, Department of Social Work, University of Ghana, Legon, Accra

Rachael Abrokwah holds a Master's of Philosophy degree from the Department of Social Work of University of Ghana. Rachael has worked on research projects with faculty members of the Department of Social Work, University of Ghana. She has also presented her research thesis locally.

Efua Mantey Aggire-Tettey, Department of Social Work, University of Ghana, Legon, Accra

Dr.  Efua Esaaba Mantey Agyire-Tettey is a Lecturer at the Department of Social Work at University of Ghana. She holds BA and MPh degrees from University of Ghana and a PhD from University of Siegen. Dr. Agyire-Tettey teaches courses on social problems and policies. She has undertaken several research programmes and has presented and published her work in many local and global publications.

Augustina Naami, Department of Social Work, University of Ghana, Legon, Accra

Dr. Augustina Naami is a Lecturer at Department of Social Work, University of Ghana. She holds a BA degree in Economics from University of Ghana, Master’s and PhD in Social Work from the Universities of Chicago and Utah respectively. She teaches a range of subjects in social work, mostly with macro-level practice and policy orientation. Dr. Naami’s research focus is on disability, mental health, intersection of vulnerabilities, gender, social policy and poverty. She has presented her work locally and globally and published in high-impact peer-reviewed journals.

1.
Abrokwah R, Aggire-Tettey EM, Naami A. Accessing Healthcare in Ghana: Challenges Encountered and Strategies Adopted by Persons with Disabilities in Accra. DCIDJ [Internet]. 2020 Aug. 6 [cited 2025 Feb. 23];31(1):120-41. Available from: https://dcidj.uog.edu.et/index.php/up-j-dcbrid/article/view/358
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