The aim of the study was to investigate university students' use of the Internet for health purpose in the Ghanaian context. The study employed a quantitative cross-sectional design. A total of 650 out of 740 students selected from 3 different universities participated, giving a response rate of 87.7% (650/740). Data were obtained using questionnaires and frequency and percentages were used to analyze data. The results show that university students are active users of the Internet as 78.3% (509/650) used Internet daily and 67.7% (440/650) use Internet for health purposes, for reasons including availability and ease of accessing information, privacy, confidentiality, and affordability. Use of Internet was constrained by unreliable and slow connection, high cost of Internet, and unreliable power supply. Also, 72.4% (315/435) used the online health information obtained as a basis for lifestyle change and only 39.5% (170/430) consulted health professionals after obtaining online information. The study concludes that students use Internet to seek online health support. The use of Internet to communicate with young people in relation to their health must therefore be explored. There is the need to be aware of online safety issues for young adults, including the need to provide information on privacy options.

This paper examines the influence of health insurance status on healthcare use in rural Ghana using 286 sampled respondents from four rural communities in the Bekwai Municipality. Data were obtained using structured interview and Pearson's Chi square and bivariate regressions were used to analyse data. The results show low healthcare utilization among study participants, with most respondents having irregular use (43.5%) or rare use (43.3%). Respondents with health insurance utilized healthcare more than those without health insurance, the results being statistically significant (df = 4; n = 283, p = 0.000). The bivariate analysis revealed that health insurance status has a positive and significant influence on utilization (β = 1.284; p value = 0.000). The study recommends promotion and improvement of services of the National Health Insurance Scheme as effective strategy to improve healthcare consumption by the rural people. The expansion of health insurance services to all sections of the population is also recommended.

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Maternal health care has become a major concern on international fora in the 21st century. Even though major interventions have been taken to scale up maternal health care locally, nationally, and globally, adequate utilisation has not been achieved due to system-induced setbacks, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. The study explored the facilitators and barriers to antenatal care use in periurban Ghana. Seventeen (17) respondents consisting of four mothers receiving ANC services, four mothers receiving postnatal care with their ANC experience, four midwives, and four nurses with the District Public Health Nurse were involved in the study. The exploratory case study design was used with respondents comprising two focus groups and interview participants. Using thematic analysis, the results revealed that restrictive factors like travel time, long waiting time, transport cost, service cost, quality of service, and attitude of hospital staff still act as constraining factors even after the introduction of free maternal health care. The study concludes that practices like focused ANC and routine monitoring to facilities among others have increased utilisation. The study therefore recommends that to ensure adequate utilisation, the government and other stakeholders should offer support to the less-privileged mothers. Again, services should be easily available at facilities to pregnant women even if they are to be bought. It is further recommended that antenatal care services should be reoriented and clinical psychologists should be placed at all health centres to empower health staff on the best attitude towards clients. Interventions if mainstreamed into the national maternal health policy could be useful.