The Health Experiences of Young Internal Migrants in Ghana—Identifying Priorities for Sustainable Health Promotion

Grace Spencer (), Ernestina Dankyi, Jill Thompson, Faye Acton and Stephen Owusu Kwankye
Additional contact information
Grace Spencer: Faculty of Health, Education Medicine and Social Care, Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge CB1 1PT, UK
Ernestina Dankyi: Centre for Social Policy Studies, University of Ghana, Legon, Accra LG 1181, Ghana
Jill Thompson: Health Sciences School, University of Sheffield, Sheffield S10 2HQ, UK
Faye Acton: Faculty of Health, Education Medicine and Social Care, Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge CB1 1PT, UK
Stephen Owusu Kwankye: Regional Institute for Population Studies, University of Ghana, Legon LG 1181, Ghana

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 22, 1-14

Abstract: The Sustainable Development Goals underscore the importance of migration to the achievement of health, and global migration presents both opportunities and challenges for the development of health promotion. Despite such recognition, very little work has focused on health promotion with young migrants, including how migration shapes opportunities for positive health. This paper reports findings from a qualitative study that sought to advance knowledge of the health experiences of young internal migrants in Ghana ( n = 14) and considers ways to harness these perspectives in the development of sustainable health promotion solutions. Methods included community consultations, participatory workshops and interviews with young migrants aged 14–21 years. Findings highlighted how the social determinants of health affected young migrants’ opportunities to support their health. Our analysis highlights how a lack of access to adequate food, shelter and health services often resulted in the adoption of alternative health practices, including the use of herbal remedies. Supporting positive livelihoods as part of tackling the social determinants of health is crucial to mitigate the impacts of poverty and inequalities on young migrants’ health practices and outcomes. We conclude by considering how to advance relevant health promotion with young migrants living in contexts of vulnerability.

Keywords: health promotion; migration; young people; migrants; sustainable development goals (SDGs); social determinants of health; vulnerability; health inequalities (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/22/15229/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/22/15229/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:22:p:15229-:d:976524

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().