Leveraging Healthcare Opportunities for Improved Access among Ghanaian Retirees: The Case of Active Aging

Delali A. Dovie
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Delali A. Dovie: Sociology Department, University of Ghana, P.O. Box LG 65, Legon, Accra, Ghana

Social Sciences, 2018, vol. 7, issue 6, 1-18

Abstract: This paper is a policy brief with targeted interviews of older adults in urban Ghana with recommendations for future healthcare policy. Using qualitative explorative approach, the scope of the research is to examine opportunities that focus on healthy aging in order to enhance healthcare infrastructure in Ghana in preparation for an increased number of older adults. The paper mainly finds that improved healthcare solicitation and the social world of older adults are intricately linked. The healthcare needs of older adults are met through diverse mechanisms—the Pensioners’ Medical Scheme and ceragim concept. These depict a transformation in healthcare access and delivery with implications for wider healthcare, solidarity and efficiency. Active ageing strategies therefore facilitate the provision of supplementary healthcare access by seeking health solutions independently, including the creation of awareness about the challenges and the concomitant health resource opportunities for older adults. These have the tendency for the development of an acumen for healthcare-related resilience. I argue that health-related challenges depict opportunities for smarter solutions and mutual growth, further showing that aging is gain and a human development issue that fosters the emergence of an integrated healthcare system. Crucially, the paper reveals that health-related challenges are used to leverage entry and participation in the healthcare products’ market and by extension access to quality and holistic healthcare services. This encompasses innovative healthcare infrastructural resources that Ghanaian older adults patronize. These health resources are worth pursuing and may need to be incorporated into the National Policy on Ageing, with envisaged universal coverage in focus.

Keywords: retiree; voluntary associations; post-retirement life; active aging; healthcare (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A B N P Y80 Z00 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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