Purpose: According to the World Health Organisation, 10% to 15% of the population of every developing country lives with disability. This amounts to about 2.4 - 3.6 million Ghanaians with disability. Since their contribution is important for the development of the country, this study aimed to assess the financial access to healthcare among persons with disabilities in the Kumasi Metropolis of Ghana.Methods: A cross-sectional study, involving administration of a semi-structured questionnaire, was conducted among persons with all kinds of disabilities (physically challenged, hearing and visually impaired) in the Kumasi Metropolis. Multi-stage sampling was used to randomly select 255 persons with disabilities from 5 clusters of communities - Oforikrom, Subin, Asewase, Tafo and Asokwa. Data analysis involved descriptive and analytical statistics at 95% CI using SPSS software version 20.Results: There were more male than female participants, nearly one-third of them had no formal education and 28.6% were unemployed. The average monthly expenditure on healthcare was GHC 21.46 (USD 6.0) which constituted 9.8% of the respondents’ income. Factors such as age, gender, disability type, education, employment, and whether or not they stayed with family members had significant bearing on the average monthly expenses on healthcare (p<0.05). Transportation cost, the travel distance to facilities, as well as the regular sources of payment for healthcare, had significant relationship with access to healthcare (p<0.05). Although about 63.5% of the respondents used the National Health Insurance Scheme as the regular source of payment for healthcare, 94.1% reported that sources of payment did not cover all their expenses and equipment.Conclusion: Financial access to healthcare remains a major challenge for persons with disabilities. Measures to finance all healthcare expenses of persons with disabilities are urgently needed to improve their access to healthcare.
Unemployment and the corollary of poverty among persons with disabilities have been well explored in the literature. As part of its global efforts to eradicate poverty, the United Nations, through its sustainable development goals, has urged countries to create economic opportunities for all persons to participate in income-generating activities. In Ghana, agriculture has been described as the backbone of the economy and the main source of employment and livelihood for many. However, it appears that policymakers are yet to explore how agriculture could create sustainable employment opportunities for persons with disabilities. This study makes a major contribution to research on the eradication of poverty among persons with disabilities by exploring their participation and experiences in agriculture-related activities. One-on-one interviews and focus group discussions were conducted with 19 persons with disabilities from three communities in a district in Ghana. A recurrent theme was that agriculture was a way through which the Ghanaian government could create employment for persons with disabilities. However, the participants recounted formidable barriers that affect their participation in agriculture: lack of land, funds and farming tools, and negative attitudes. These findings highlight the need for policymakers to engage with persons with disabilities to identify possible ways to assist their participation in agriculture.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.