Page 19 - IJPS-10-4

International Journal of
Population Studies Healthcare access and use among rural–urban migrants

Furthermore, organizing regular or periodic migrate for economic opportunities, with less attention
awareness campaigns and health outreach programs will given to children and male migrants. While access
educate internal migrants on the available structures to healthcare is crucial for all populations, we found
and procedures to register and use formal healthcare. several factors affecting access to appropriate health-
This approach aligns with the WHO guidelines on care services among internal migrants in Ghana. These
health promotion, which encourage health program factors included infrastructural, financial, and linguistic
managers, including governmental and non-governmental barriers, ignorance of NHIS structures, male dominance,
organizations, and policymakers to increase knowledge of hostile attitudes of some health staff, and long patient
interventions important for increasing access to healthcare waiting times. Significantly, these barriers increased self-
(World Health Organization, 2015). medication and self-diagnosis among internal migrants,
leading to poor overall health outcomes. Suggestions on
4.4. Public health implications the implementation of mobile health services and NHIS
Improving access to healthcare is a key indicator of health registration van were cited as relevant to help meet the
system performance and an important mechanism to bridge needs of populations, especially the vulnerable internal
health disparities experienced by vulnerable populations, migrants, in slum areas. In addition, awareness campaigns
particularly internal migrants (Cookson et al., 2016). The and health outreach programs were highly recommended
findings will assist policymakers in building robust health as a way to educate internal migrants on the available
systems that focus on equity and demographic adaptations structures and procedures for registering for the NHIS and
to improve access to and use of affordable and quality utilizing formal health-care services.
healthcare for all populations. This argument is premised
on the notion that designing effective interventions to Acknowledgments
improve migrant health outcomes could reduce long- We gratefully acknowledge the support of the Deutscher
term economic, health, and social costs (World Health Akademischer Austauschdienst (DAAD) for enabling the
Organization, 2015). It will also facilitate the promotion of first author to undertake his Master’s in Global Urban
migrant health and emphasize the need for more proactive Health (GUH) at the University of Freiburg, Germany,
measures to address the strategies internal migrants adopt which led to the development of this study. We also
to mitigate their inability to access and utilize appropriate appreciate Dr. med. Petra Jung (GUH Migrant tutor),
healthcare. Dr. Sonia Diaz-Monsalve (GUH Programme Coordinator),
and Professor Dr. Axel Kroeger (GUH Scientific Advisor)
Our review sheds light on the experiences of previous
migrants, serving as a source of learning for future migrants for their conceptual input in developing the study.
regarding challenges during the migration trajectory and Funding
their effect on health, as well as information about existing
structures and interventions for their health needs. None.

4.5. Strengths and limitations Conflict of interest
The search limitation, from January 2012 to June 2022, The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest
may have excluded other relevant articles. A secondary regarding the publication of this paper.
limitation is that the analysis of qualitative data may be
influenced by the cultural, political, and socioeconomic Author contributions
conditions existing at the time of data collection. Therefore, Conceptualization: Godfred Otchere
it is possible that data reinterpreted in this review may Investigation: Godfred Otchere, Samuel Egyakwa Ankomah
suggest different conclusions. However, despite these Methodology: Godfred Otchere, Samuel Egyakwa
limitations, the search strategy for this review was designed Ankomah, Emmanuel Kumah
to comprehensively assess significant public health and Formal analysis: Godfred Otchere, Samuel Egyakwah
health sciences literature on internal migrants’ access to Ankomah
and utilization of healthcare in Ghana. Writing – original draft: Godfred Otchere, Samuel Egyakwa
Ankomah, Adam Fusheini
5. Conclusion Writing – review & editing: All authors
This review examined internal migrants’ access to and
utilization of health-care services in Ghana. Most of the Ethics approval and consent to participate
studies (n = 12 [75%]) focused on female migrants who Not applicable.

Volume 10 Issue 4 (2024) 13 https://doi.org/10.36922/ijps.2314