Facilitators of and barriers to the use of healthcare services from a user and provider perspective in Ejisu-Juaben municipality, Ghana

Objective
Knowledge about the use of formal healthcare services is an important aspect of public health policy. However, there is a paucity of empirical studies on facilitators of and barriers to formal healthcare use in Ghana from the health user and provider points of view, a gap this qualitative study aims to fill.

Methods
In-depth interviews were conducted with 20 healthcare users and 15 formal healthcare providers in Ejisu-Juaben Municipality in the Ashanti Region of Ghana. A thematic analytical framework was used to analyse the data, which were then presented based on an a posteriori inductive reduction approach.

Results
Four major facilitators of healthcare use were identified: acceptance of the health insurance card, having a good relationship with the healthcare providers, quality of the service offered/professionalism and proximity to healthcare facilities. The barriers to formal healthcare use established in this study were of an economic, social, cultural and institutional nature.

Conclusion
The study findings highlight the need to address barriers to the utilisation of formal healthcare by reviewing the national health insurance scheme, recruiting language interpreters at health facilities and integrating the formal and traditional systems into the mainstream national health system in Ghana. This move would help make headway toward meeting UN Sustainable Development Goal 3 of ensuring healthy lives and promoting well-being for all at all ages by 2030.