Enhancing access to rural healthcare to achieve sustainable development goal 3: a case study of Telemedicine Project in Bonsaaso Millennium Village of Amansie West District

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2017-01-19
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‘Ensuring healthy lives for all at all ages’ represents the third goal of the global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) which were endorsed by the UN in 2015, after the MDG era. Despite efforts to increase access to quality health care, most of the world’s population found in rural and remote areas still have challenges accessing health care. Telemedicine interventions have been identified as effective means of addressing health care access barriers, particularly geographic barriers. This study therefore sought to explain how telemedicine helps to increase access to rural health care in the Bonsaaso Millennium Village Communities of the Amansie West District of Ghana. The study was specifically aimed at: Identifying dimensions of access barriers that are tackled by telemedicine in the cluster communities; Identifying contextual factors which enhance Telemedicine Health Care delivery; Identifying problems with telemedicine mode of health care delivery and; Seeking to know how the work of Community Health Workers and Health Care Staffs at the Teleconsultation Centre help to address the health care needs of patients. The researcher used the Exploratory Case Study design and the Mixed Methodology, for the research. Sixty (60) Community Health Workers (CHWs) were engaged in questionnaire administration, while a further Five CHWs, The Manager of CHWs, and two Health Care staff at the Teleconsultation Centre were purposively sampled for key informant interviews. Statistical Package for Social Scientists (SPSS) software was used to analyse quantitative data from, and results were presented in the form of histograms and frequency tables, while the Relative Importance Index (RII) tool was used to analyse the factors that enhance Telemedicine. The Qualitative Data Analysis (QDA) Miner Lite software was used to analyse transcribed interviews to identify, analyse and report patterns for development of themes. The research revealed that apart from geographical barriers to health care, the Telemedicine intervention also helps to address Financial barriers, Availability barriers, and Acceptability barriers of health care for people in the rural communities. The study also revealed that CHWs and staff at the TCC played key roles in enhancing patients’ access to Telehomecare and Teleconsultation services through regular household visits and health consultation by mobile phone communication. Some of the contextual factors identified from the research included Collaboration among health workers; Adequate health care personnel, Health ICT Education and Training for Health care personnel, Technical Quality of Communication Network Services, and A good software to v enhance data collection. Some problems identified by respondents related mainly to Network and Connectivity Problems, Alienation from Clinical Practice, Technical Problems and Communication and Information Sharing problems.
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A thesis submitted to the Department of Agric. Econs, Agribusiness and Extention in partial fulfilment of the requirement for the award of Master of Philosophy Degree in Sustainable and Integrated Rural Development Africa, 2016
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