s12884 014 0425 8

Ganle et al.
BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth (2014) 14:425

DOI 10.1186/s12884-014-0425-8
RESEARCH ARTICLE Open Access
A qualitative study of health system barriers to

accessibility and utilization of maternal and
newborn healthcare services in Ghana after
user-fee abolition
John Kuumuori Ganle1, Michael Parker2, Raymond Fitzpatrick3 and Easmon Otupiri4*
Abstract
Background: To reduce financial barriers to access, and improve access to and use of skilled maternal and
newborn healthcare services, the government of Ghana, in 2003, implemented a new maternal healthcare policy
that provided free maternity care services in all public and mission healthcare facilities. Although supervised
delivery in Ghana has increased from 47% in 2003 to 55% in 2010, strikingly high maternal mortality ratio and low
percentage of skilled attendance are still recorded in many parts of the country.
To explore health system factors that inhibit women’s access to and use of skilled maternal and newborn
healthcare services in Ghana despite these services being provided free.
Methods: We conducted qualitative research with 185 expectant and lactating mothers and 20 healthcare
providers in six communities in Ghana between November 2011 and May 2012. We used Attride-Stirling’s thematic
network analysis framework to analyze and present our data.
Results: We found that in addition to limited and unequal distribution of skilled maternity care services, women’s
experiences of intimidation in healthcare facilities, unfriendly healthcare providers, cultural insensitivity, long waiting
time before care is received, limited birthing choices, poor care quality, lack of privacy at healthcare facilities, and
difficulties relating to arranging suitable transportation were important health system barriers to increased and
equitable access and use of services in Ghana.
Conclusion: Our findings highlight how a focus on patient-side factors can conceal the fact that many health
systems and maternity healthcare facilities in low-income settings such as Ghana are still chronically under-resourced
and incapable of effectively providing an acceptable minimum quality of care in the event of serious obstetric
complications. Efforts to encourage continued use of maternity care services, especially skilled assistance at delivery,
should focus on addressing those negative attributes of the healthcare system that discourage access and use.
Keywords: Maternal and newborn health, Health system barriers, Access, Maternal healthcare, User-fee abolition,
Ghana
* Correspondence: [email protected]
4
Department of Community Health, School of Medical Sciences, Kwame
Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana
Full list of author information is available at the end of the article
© 2014 Ganle et al.; licensee BioMed Central. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative
Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and
reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly credited. The Creative Commons Public Domain
Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article,
unless otherwise stated.
Ganle et al. BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth (2014) 14:425 Page 2 of 17
Background Health Summit. One recent World Bank study also sug-
Ghana is one country in which for the majority of gested that Ghana is off track to achieving the MDG 4
women, the experience of pregnancy and childbirth can and 5 targets despite implementing the free maternity
still in fact be equivalent to a death sentence, character- care policy [16]. The same study further highlighted the
ized by fear, anxiety, anguish and pain. Ghana has had a fact that among countries with similar levels of income
persistently high maternal mortality ratio, estimated to and health expenditure, Ghana performed worse than
range from a low of 200 to a high of 1,300 per 100,000 average with respect to neonatal, infant, under-five, and
live births [1]. The 2010 WHO estimates suggest 350 maternal mortality.
maternal deaths per 100, 000 live births in Ghana [2]. The stall in Ghana’s progress towards improving ma-
Maternal mortality, which accounts for 14% of all female ternal and newborns health and the gaps in the contin-
deaths, is the second largest cause of female deaths in ued use of maternity services from a skilled provider
Ghana [3]. suggest an urgent need for further research into the fac-
At both global and national levels, there are different tors other than money that might be inhibiting access
explanations for the persistence of poor maternal and to, and use of services. Besides, understanding the re-
newborn health outcomes (see [4-9]). But one prominent maining barriers to access within the context of Ghana’s
explanation that has recently been highlighted in the free maternal healthcare policy forms an important first
literature is poor and unequal access to skilled maternal step towards the establishment of comprehensive policies
and newborn healthcare services [6,8-10]. Globally, about for the reduction of maternal and neonatal mortality [17].
63% of women receive support and care during birth from The objective of this paper is to explore health system fac-
a skilled health worker [6]. While in high-income coun- tors that inhibit women’s access to and use of skilled ma-
tries coverage of skilled birthing services is almost univer- ternal and newborn healthcare services in Ghana despite
sal, in Africa and Asia, only 47% and 61% of mothers, these services being provided free.
respectively, give birth with a skilled care provider. In the
case of Ghana, there has been steady improvement in the Methods
coverage of skilled birth attendance - from 40% in 1988 to Study design
55% in 2010. Despite this improvement, 45% of births are The qualitative data reported in this paper were ex-
still delivered at home without any form of skilled care, tracted from within a larger, original study that the au-
although there are significant regional variations [11]. thors conducted to examine the effects of Ghana’s free
Since the adoption of the Millennium Development maternal healthcare policy on women’s maternity care
Goals (MGDs) in 2000 – of which goals 4 and 5 aim to seeking experience, equity of access, and barriers to acces-
improve maternal, newborn, and child health - one pol- sibility and utilization of maternal and newborn healthcare
icy action area felt to be of particular importance to the services. The design of this larger study followed a mixed
reduction of maternal and neonatal mortality is to in- methods approach; involving analysis of a nationally rep-
crease the proportion of women accessing and using resentative retrospective household survey data in com-
skilled maternal healthcare services, especially delivery bination with qualitative exploration using data generated
with skilled health professionals in attendance. It is in this from anthropological research techniques of focus group
regard that the government of Ghana, in 2003, pioneered discussions (FGDs), key informant interviews (KIIs), case
and is implementing a maternal healthcare policy that studies and structured field observations. While other
provides free maternity care in all public and mission aspects of the qualitative data from the larger study have
healthcare facilities. Ghana’s free maternal healthcare pol- been analysed, written up and submitted for peer-review
icy is premised on the notion that financial barriers are by other journals, this paper focuses on and report find-
one of the most important causes of low and inequitable ings from an aspect of the qualitative study that explored
access to, and use of skilled maternity care services [12]. aspects of Ghana’s maternity care delivery system that
The policy therefore aims to reduce financial barriers to discourage use of skilled care.
access and improve access to and use of skilled delivery
services [1]. Study setting
While a number of studies have suggested that the im- Empirical research was conducted in Ghana during a
plementation of the policy of free maternity care has total of 6 months between November 2011 and May
largely eliminated financial barriers to access [12-15], 2012 in a total of 6 purposively sampled communities
Ghana continues to register strikingly high maternal namely, Kuntanase, Abono, and Piase in the Bosomtwe
mortality rates as well as low levels of skilled maternal district of the Ashanti region; and Mpaha, Sankpala and
healthcare services accessibility and utilization, prompt- Tidrope in the Central Gonja district of the Northern re-
ing the minister of health to describe maternal mortality gion. We chose Ghana for this research not only because
as a ‘national emergency’ during the 2008 Ghana Annual maternal health is seen as a ‘national emergency’, but also
because Ghana presents an interesting ideal case study. It is Ghana enjoys in the sub-region, maternal, neonatal and
one of only a handful of countries in Sub-Saharan Africa infant mortality ratios have remained persistently high.
to have actively started implementing both universal Apart from capturing a divide between a relatively des-
maternity care and health insurance policies at the na- titute northern Ghana and a relatively prosperous south-
tional level. The economic and political conditions in ern Ghana, we chose the six communities to provide a
Ghana also make the country an interesting case study. diversity of social and health situations that are largely
Ghana is situated within the predominantly economic- representative of the country, Ghana (Table 1). For in-
ally marginalized and politically unstable region of West stance to capture any differences that may exist between
Africa, but forms an exception. Relatively, Ghana is a urban and rural communities as well as communities
small fledgling multicultural, multi-ethnic, multi- with at least one government or mission healthcare facility
religious, and multi-party constitutional democracy, and those without, we selected Kuntanase to represent
characterized by vibrant civil society activism and media urban communities, Piase, Sankpala and Mpaha to repre-
pluralism. It is politically stable; a rebasing of its econ- sent rural communities with health facilities, and Abono
omy in November 2010 saw the country leap into the and Tidrope to represent rural communities without any
category of lower-middle-income countries [16]; it also health facility. Although the six communities demonstra-
recently started producing oil in commercial quantities; ted variable levels of performance on maternal and new-
and is often touted as one of the most politically and born health indicators, access to, and use of antenatal,
economically progressive countries in the region. Al- delivery, post-delivery and newborn care services were
though Ghana has since 2013 been experiencing eco- mostly below the national averages (Table 1).
nomic deterioration - with some private healthcare
providers including the Christian Health Association Ethics
of Ghana (CHAG) cancelling their contracts with the We obtained clearance from the University of Oxford
National Health Insurance Scheme due to heavy in- Social Sciences and Humanities Inter-divisional Research
debtedness, thereby forcing all patients whether insured Ethics Committee (Ref No.: SSD/CUREC1/11-051), and
or not to resort to the old cash-and-carry system – the the Ghana Health Service Ethical Review Committee
country is still often considered ‘an example of global (Protocol ID NO: GHS-ERC 18/11/11). In addition, both
good practice’ [16,18]. Despite the ‘exceptional status’ informed written and verbal consent were obtained from
Table 1 Basic characteristics of the study communities

Bosomtwe District Central Gonja District
Community characteristic Piase Abono Kuntanase Entire Bosomtwe Tidrope Mpaha Sankpala Entire Central
District Gonja District
Population (2010) 2,772 1,467 34.682 99,964 1,025 4,126 1,526 110,576
Number and type Health centre 0 Hospital (1) Hospitals (3), Health None Health Health Hospital (1),
of health facility (2010) (1) centres (3), Clinics (7), centre (1) centre (1) Health centres (5)
Maternity Homes (3) CHPS zones (11)
Number of medical doctors 0 0 2 10 0 0 0 1
(2010)
Number of midwives (2010) 1 0 3 38 0 0 1 9
Number of general nurses (2010) 0 0 7 65 0 0 0 6
Number of community 2 0 11 25 0 5 4 37
Health nurses (2010)
Number of pharmacists (2010) 0 0 1 3 0 0 0 0
Number of dispensary 0 0 3 14 0 1 0 2
technicians (2010)
Distance to nearest health 1 12 1 n/a 13 2 1 n/a
facility (km)
Doctor to patient ratio (2010) 1: 9,997 1: 110,576
Nurse to patient ratio (2010) 1: 1,111 1:2,572
Number of maternal n/a n/a n/a 5 n/a 2 0 28
deaths (2010)
Number of under-5 deaths (2010) n/a n/a n/a 25 n/a 10 4 25
Skilled delivery (%) (2010) 56 n/a 74 54.3 n/a 18.1 22.2 14.4
all research participants. In all cases, consent was ob- yielded sufficient numbers of participants whose views on
tained after it was thoroughly explained to participants the research topic could fairly approximate the views of
that their participation was entirely voluntary and that the majority of women in the community. Third, the
information obtained will be used for the purposes of randomly chosen participants were further randomly allo-
this research only. To thank research participants, we cated to either focus group or in-depth interview. Finally,
bought biscuits and soft drinks to refresh them. we took the randomly selected names to the various com-
munities wherein the research was introduced and the
Research participants selection procedures thoroughly explained to each of the
The research participants were drawn from a population randomly selected women. Thereafter, the women were
of pregnant women and lactating mothers from the six invited to participate in the study. Where any of the
research communities, and from health personnel from randomly selected women was not available or declined to
the two regional and district health directorates. For the participate in the study – and there were only 2 of
purposes of this research, we classified participants into such cases – we repeated the selection process to get
‘Women’ and ‘Healthcare Providers’. ‘Women’ here refers a replacement.
to women who were pregnant at the time of this research We acknowledge that the emphasis of qualitative re-
or had given birth between January 2011 and May 2012 in search is not always on generalisation hence randomisa-
the six study communities. Healthcare providers com- tion might not be a necessary requirement [40]. However,
prised health professionals (doctors, nurses, midwives, we used simple random sampling in this study as a prag-
healthcare managers, and health policy makers or imple- matic and ethical strategy to assure justice by using a fair
menters) from health facilities in the study communities, and transparent sampling procedure that ensured that
district and regional health directorates, and Ghana every pregnant and lactating mother in the study com-
Health Service at the national level. The rationale for munities had a fair chance of taking part in the research.
interviewing diverse actors at multiple levels was to allow In fact, the idea of chance - which was embedded in our
for an exploration of multiple perspectives. sampling procedures - helped to eliminate questions
In all, 205 participants took part in the study. Of this about why one woman was included and another excluded
number, 90% (185) were pregnant women and lactating from the study.
mothers. The remaining 10% (20) consisted of health-
care providers. Data collection methods
Focus group discussions and key informant interviews
Sampling and recruitment procedures were the main data collection methods. We adopted
Our strategy for recruiting research participants involved focus groups partly because we believe it had the cap-
both probability and non-probability sampling proce- ability to reproduce women’s experiences of seeking
dures. For all research participants under the ‘healthcare maternity care in a normal peer-group interpersonal
providers’ category, a purposive sampling technique was exchange. Six (6) focus group discussions – one in each
used. This was a judgmental selection based on the par- community and involving a total of 104 pregnant women
ticipant’s knowledge of the subject of study, the partici- and lactating mothers - were completed. Groups consisted
pant’s role in the selected health institutions, and our of 17–24 participants. This difference was mainly due to
evaluation and/or perception of the relevance of that differences in the sizes of the target populations. All focus
role and knowledge to the research topic [19]. groups were held in the study communities, at venues
For the women however, a simple random sampling chosen in consultation with participants and community
procedure was used. The actual sampling and recruit- gatekeepers. Each focus group lasted 1.30 to 2 hours, and
ment procedure involved four main steps. First, we enu- ended when a point of saturation was reached i.e. when
merated all pregnant and lactating mothers in each of no new ideas and issues seemed to arise. All discussions
the study communities using a five-item short question- were conducted in the local dialects – Twi in Kuntanase,
naire that we designed. The questionnaire asked whether Abono and Piase; Dagbani in Sankpala and Tidrope; and
a woman was currently pregnant or had given birth since Gonja in Mpaha. This is not only because the literacy
January 2011, the name of the woman, age and house [written or spoken English] rates are low among the study
number/name. Second, after the listing was completed, we participants, but also because we wanted to ensure that
randomly selected the required number of participants the interview language was not a barrier to effectively
from the pool of names in each study community. We exploiting the full benefits of focus groups.
predetermined the required number of participants (5% of Because our knowledge of the interview language was
the total enumerated population of pregnant and lactating limited, we engaged one female research assistant from
mothers of each study community). We believe sampling each community to facilitate the discussions. Prior to
5% of the enumerated population in each community the interviews, these research assistants were trained for
three days. The training took the form of classroom however had built-in flexibility that allowed questioning
lectures on the objectives of the research, a question-by- to flow naturally while permitting us to pick at random
question explanation of the content of the topic guides, and probe more on any pertinent but unexpected issues
instructions on field and interviewing procedures to be that arose during the interview process. The instruments
followed, and instructions on how to ask sensitive ques- focused primarily on exploring women’s experiences of
tions. To reinforce the training interviewers had received seeking or not seeking maternity care services, issues
and to reduce potential bias in questioning, the training regarding coverage, utilization and access, women’s
also involved mock or practice field interviewing, during interaction with maternal and newborn healthcare ser-
which each of the research assistants interviewed 3 vices, the barriers to access and use of services, and
women using the relevant interview language. These perceptions of in/equities in maternal health services
pilot interviews were transcribed and translated into accessibility and utilisation. In addition, a more struc-
English by independent language translators. The results tured questionnaire instrument that sought to collect
of the pretest suggested that all research assistants per- specific socio-demographic information as well as elicit
formed well in terms of asking questions in the correct specific response (e.g. did you or will you give birth at the
way. Where any errors were detected, they were dis- hospital, clinic or home?) from all women was designed
cussed with the appropriate interviewer to ensure that and administered individually to all women.
the same errors did not reoccur in the main interview. To ensure that the instrument was reliable, we en-
To further explore the research question, we conducted gaged in a continuous review of the questions and the
key informant interviews to complement the focus groups. interview process to ensure that they were eliciting the
The need for a mixed data collection technique in the so- right answers to the right questions. This proved valu-
cial aspects of disease and health research has been widely able in enabling us to reframe questions, clarify and use
discussed [20]. In particular, it has been argued that people more appropriate or easily understandable concepts as
may not necessarily tell the truth in any objective sense the research progressed. All discussions and interviews
when it comes to sensitive issues such as health and were tape-recorded alongside hand-written field notes.
disease within a group context [21]. To overcome this,
we complemented our focus groups by conducting key Data analysis
informant interviews. Key informant interviews were To ensure that the qualitative data analysis process was
also used because it was difficult to organise focus methodical and transparent, we followed the Attride-
group discussions with healthcare providers. This was Stirling’s thematic network analysis framework [22]. Sev-
largely because it was extremely difficult to get a group eral steps were followed before the analysis proceeded to
of healthcare workers to agree on a common time an interpretative phase in which the networks were con-
period to hold FGDs. This was due to the different nected into an explanatory framework consistent with
duty-schedules of individual healthcare workers. This the text. The first step involved transcription and reading
was overcome more appropriately by conducting indi- of transcripts and field notes for overall understanding.
vidual interviews. One major advantage of the method During and after qualitative data collection, the first
was its ability to address sensitive issues such as per- author and three other language specialists - Twi, Dagbani
sonal experiences and perceptions with regard to distri- and Gonja – transcribed all tape-recorded interviews. The
bution, accessibility to, and utilization of maternity care first author then immersed himself in all transcripts and
services. interview notes through reading and reviewing for overall
In all, a total of 101 key informant interviews were com- understanding and comprehension of meaning. This first
pleted – 81 with pregnant and lactating mothers, and 20 step was completed with a separate summary of each tran-
with selected healthcare providers. The distribution of the script outlining the key points participants made in re-
81 women across the six study communities was 21, 11, sponse to the questions.
15, 12, 13, and 9 in Kuntanase, Abono, Piase, Sankpala, Once the data was reviewed and a general understand-
Mpaha, and Tidrope respectively. Interviews lasted 10 to ing of the scope and contexts of key experiences was
15 minutes. All interviews with women were conducted in attained, the interview transcripts were exported to
Twi, Dagbani, and Gonja. Interviews with healthcare pro- NVivo 9 qualitative data analysis software, where the
viders were however conducted in English. data was both deductively and inductively coded. Codes,
according to Miles and Huberman [23] are labels, which
Research instruments are assigned to whole or segments of transcripts and
In all focus groups and key informant interviews, we interview notes to help catalogue key concepts while
used an open-ended thematic topic guide. The instru- preserving the context in which these concepts occur.
ment was designed to ensure that similar themes were Coding provided us with a formal system to organise
covered in each discussion or interview. The instrument the data, uncovering and documenting additional links
within and between concepts and experiences in the data. data in relation to the research question, and represented
Data coding continued until theoretical saturation was some level of patterned response or meaning within the
reached. This was a point where no new concepts data set [25].
emerged from successive reviewing and coding of data Finally, all the themes identified in the previous steps
[24]. At this stage, the code structure was deemed com- were assembled and a thematic chart was drawn to re-
plete and then applied to develop and report themes. flect basic themes, organising themes, and global themes
Themes simply captured something important about the (Table 2).
Table 2 Thematic network analysis framework (from codes to global themes)

Codes Basic themes identified Organizing themes Global themes
-There is joy in pregnancy & childbirth 1. Pregnancy & childbirth are fulfilling 1. Pregnancy & childbirth is Women’s experiences
biological functions women perform role fulfilment, self actualization of pregnancy &
-Women feel accomplished in giving and empowerment childbirth
birth safely.
-A woman can die while pregnant 2. Pregnancy & childbirth is dangerous 2. Pregnancy & childbirth can
or giving birth be a dangerous event
-you either die or live
-Pregnancy & childbirth is an anxious
phase of woman’s life
-Pregnancy makes women highly
dependent on others
-A Pregnant woman needs care, love 3. Care during pregnancy is important 3. Women want skilled
and empathy to be able to deliver safety for safe delivery attendance at birth
-Women should go to hospital 4. Hospital delivery is good
when pregnant
-It is good to deliver in a hospital
-Midwives can help to deliver
women safely
-Some places do not have health 5. Unequal availability and/or distribution
facilities of services gives rise to differential access
-There are no nurses/midwives/doctors 4. Health system failures Barriers to access &
at some health facilities equitable access
-Services are far away 6. Long distance travel & difficulties with
arranging transport to health facilities
-It is difficult to travel discourage access
-Caregivers do not ask how women feel 7. Poor services quality discourage women
from accessing and using services
-There is overcrowding in maternity wards
-Maltreatment and scolding is
dehumanizing
-Caregivers want women to obey 8. Lack of choice in health facilities is a
instructions without question disincentive to use of skilled care
-Poor communication between women 9. Women’s distrust in the ability of health
and caregivers leads to misunderstanding care institutions & professionals reduces their
willingness and ability to access skilled care
-Women do not believe their problems
can be solved by some caregivers/health
facilities
-Nurses are disrespectful 10. Culturally and linguistically inappropriate
care and health information does not
-Caregivers disrespectful and disregard promote effective communication
women’s preferences and cultural
between caregivers & women
values relating to pregnancy and childbirth
-TBAs advise women about what to do 11. Lack of recognition of the role of TBAs
in an obstetric emergency, but health by the health system breeds mistrust and
system does not recognize and discourage cooperation even in times
rewards TBAs of obstetric emergnecies
-There is privacy in homebirth but not in
hospitals.
To ensure that the thematic chart reflected and sup- ‘I believe it is important for every pregnant woman to go
ported the data, we went through the data segments to hospital to check their pregnancy’ (Lactating Mother,
related to each basic, organising, and global theme. FGD, Sankpala). Indeed, coupled with the numerous
Where necessary, refinements were made. In total, 23 maternal health education campaigns that are being
codes were identified. These were grouped into 11 basic undertaken by the Ghana Health Service, the birth place
themes that were further clustered into 4 organising choice of many Ghanaian women appears to be shifting
themes, and 2 global themes (Table 2). These global, from the home (where skilled-birth attendants are not
organising and basic themes form the structure of our available) towards formal healthcare institutions (where
findings and discussion section. Where appropriate, we skilled-birth attendants are likely to be available). In
use verbatim quotations from interview transcripts to Sankpala for example, skilled delivery rose from 18.1% in
illustrate responses related to relevant themes. 2009 to 22.2% and 36.1% in 2010 and 2011 respectively
[17]. During the same period, skilled delivery in the
Results entire Central Gonja district rose from 13.4% in 2009 to
Basic characteristics of the women participants 14.4% and 24.3% in 2010 and 2011 respectively. In
Our study sampled women who have had personal Kuntanase, skilled attendance at birth has similarly risen
experience of pregnancy and childbirth, and who were from 68% in 2009 to 74% in 2010.
fully qualified to have benefitted from maternity care But while many women spoke of the need to have
interventions such as the free maternity care policy. The children and the joy that childbirth brings, there were
ages of these women varied between 20 and 45 years. also stories about the grimmer side of pregnancy and
The majority of the women had no formal education. A childbirth. Women reported that pregnancy and child-
few of the women were unemployed while most were birth was dangerous as ‘you either die or live’. It is the
engaged in diverse occupations such as farming, trading, combination of the need to procreate, the joy and fulfil-
hairdressing, dressmaking, and teaching. Several of the ment that childbirth comes with, and the fear that one
women were also married or living with a partner. The might die in the process of giving birth, that sometimes
majority of the women had between 1 and 3 children. warrants care-seeking. At the same time however, the
Our research participants’ accounts in relation to health majority of women reported how the organisation and
system factors that discourage use of skilled maternal and delivery of maternity care services was making it ex-
newborn healthcare services in Ghana converged on a tremely difficult or impossible for some women to access
number of specific common themes, which are explored and use these services. While several of these accounts
below. were characterized by both negative and positive experi-
ences, negative experiences dominated women’s daily en-
Childbirth and women’s maternity care experiences counters. In both their collective and individual response,
Discussions and interviews with women show that child- these women were unanimous that these negative experi-
birth is of special value to men and women in Ghana, ences were not only endemic under the current free ma-
whether they are married or not. A woman needs to ternal healthcare policy regime, but also that they were so
have children to ensure the perpetuity of her own disabling for the majority of women that some women
lineage in a matrilineal society, or that of her husband’s now prefer not to seek any care during pregnancy and
in a patrilineal society in Ghana. For this reason, not labour, or opt for alternative care such as care provided by
only is there joy in pregnancy and childbirth, but also traditional birth attendants (TBAs). In what follows, we
most women spoke of pregnancy and childbirth as role present women’s accounts about how these different
fulfilment, self-actualisation and empowerment. health system factors inhibit their access and use of mater-
nity services.
For me, I was really happy when I became
pregnant. It made me felt fulfilled and Service availability, distribution and access
accomplished because people now respect me more For women to have the ability to access and utilise
(Lactating Mother, FGD, Tidrope). maternity care services, there must be adequate supply
of these services [26]. A fundamental assumption of
Because of the importance of childbirth in the life of a Ghana’s free maternal health policy is that an adequate
Ghanaian woman, several women reported that a preg- supply network of skilled care services are available and
nant woman needs care, love and empathy to be able to if only such services could be made costless or afford-
deliver safely. In this regard, there was a general sense of able, all women would access and use them. Interviews
awareness among women about the potential benefits of with women and healthcare providers, which were
seeking skilled antenatal care (ANC), delivery care (DC) corroborated by systematic observations, reveal that this
and postnatal care (PNC) services from a health facility. is not the case in many districts and communities in
Ghana. Our interview data suggest that while the policy distribution of services on access to birthing care. Women
of free maternity care should in principle benefit all and healthcare providers in Mpaha alike reveal that the
women, in reality the success of the policy depends on absence of a midwife, coupled with the incompetence of
access to health facilities which many women, especially existing available nursing staff to manage deliveries was a
poor rural women, lack because of long distance or major factor impeding access to skilled care at the Mpaha
transport and other opportunity costs constraints during health centre. At the Buipe rural clinic, we observed that
referrals or emergency situations. For example, in Tidrope the number of nurses attending to women who had come
and Abono, there is no health facility hence the provision for ANC was not only very limited, but also they
of maternal health services is not readily available. The [nurses] were regularly intermittently called upon to at-
distance from any of these communities to the nearest tend to other patients presenting with different ail-
health facility is approximately 12 km. In these communi- ments. A healthcare provider at the Buipe rural clinic
ties, pregnant and lactating women tell of how a consider- summed the issues thus:
ation of the prohibitive costs involved in travelling to
access or utilise birthing services often lead several fam- You are doing research on maternal health access…
ilies to decide in favour of non-access and use or resort to you have been here, you have seen our staff strength
self-medication. A lactating mother illustrates: and you have seen the kind of resources and
equipment we are working with. How can we ensure
You see, in this community there is no doctor or nurse that all women have access to good care? Just look at
whom we can easily go to for help. Sometimes, we me, I am the only midwife, and look at all the women
really want to go and check if all is well with our sitting outside, how can one person take proper
pregnancies or babies. Some women even want a care of all of them. Sometimes, I believe the women
doctor or nurse to deliver them, but look at where the are right for not coming to us (Female Healthcare
hospital is…very very far away. Even some times when Provider, KII, Buipe).
we want to go, how to get car is a problem…because of
the long distance, many women just stay at home Quality of care and access
(Lactating Mother, FGD, Abono). Interviews with women also indicate that the quality of
maternal healthcare offered at health facilities and the
Indeed, available anecdotal data (see Table 1) as regards time it takes to receive it from a skilled provider is an-
the availability and distribution of healthcare facilities and other more important factor determining access and
healthcare personnel largely corroborated the women’s utilisation. Discussions and interviews with women in
accounts. For instance, whereas the doctor to patient ratio Kuntanase, Piase, Sankpala and Mpaha - where skilled
in 2010 was 1: 9,997 in the Bosomtwe district, the Central maternal healthcare services are readily available - showed
Gonja district had 1:110,576. Similarly, the nurse to pa- that women’s experiences of overcrowding and delays in
tient ration was approximately 1: 1,111 in the Bosomtwe maternity wards, inefficient referral systems, substandard
district compared to 1: 2,572 in the Central Gonja District. care, and lack of critical healthcare staff to provide needed
These ratios are far above the WHO recommended care have led to widespread dissatisfaction and unwilling-
doctor-to-patient ratio of 1: 6000 and nurse-to-patient ness to access and use skilled care despite these services
ratio of 1: 500. being free. A lactating mother makes the point thus:
Interviews with healthcare providers on the subject of
service availability and distribution also corroborated the I don’t know whether I should say the apimfuo
accounts several women gave. However, most healthcare insurance [the free maternity care policy] has come to
providers related the problem to resource constraints help heal our sickness or kill us. When we used to pay,
and the geographic spread of communities. the doctors were taking good care of us. But now that
it is free, you go to hospital and they tell you there is
The thing is, not all the communities in this district no medicine because the government didn’t give them
have health facilities. But the problem is that the more money…so now most of us will even travel far to
resources to do this are limited. Even if we do have get good care (Lactating Mother, KII, Kuntanase).
resources, it is not feasible to have a health facility in
every community due to the scattered nature of Another young mother reports:
settlements Male Healthcare Provider, KII, Mpaha).
Why I didn’t go to hospital? The problem is even if I
Interviews with women and healthcare providers in go, the people are many…everywhere is crowded and I
Mpaha, as well as our own systematic observations in have to wait for long hours or even a whole day.
Buipe, graphically illustrate the effect of the unequal Sometimes too you’ll go and they [referring to nurses]
will tell you that the midwife is not there. If they you may know, the policy itself has led to more
decide to help you too, they will just rush and say go patients coming to the hospitals… sometimes
home…no blood testing, no medicine, nothing! I don’t workers and the facilities are over stretched
know…but I think because the nurses no longer collect (Female Healthcare Provider, KII, Kumasi).
money from us, they are very reluctant to help us
(Lactating Mother, FGD, Piase). While it was not possible for us to independently deter-
mine whether the overcrowding, delays and poor quality
Our observations and interviews with healthcare pro- of care women reported receiving were caused by the free
viders reveal that delays and overcrowding were often maternal healthcare policy, our observations, coupled with
exacerbated by the fact that people came at random or interviews with nurses and midwives as well as reviews of
without prior appointment to seek care in healthcare secondary literature, suggest that the quality of maternal
facilities. This was because there is no booking system in healthcare may indeed be deteriorating.
place to enable women book appointments prior to visit-
ing healthcare facilities. Several women reported that Trust and access
standards of care were particularly poor in government Aside from imbalances in the distribution of health re-
healthcare facilities compared to private facilities. Thus sources, perceptions of declining quality of care, and a
the idea that, government healthcare centres offer low healthcare system that is technocratic and impersonal,
quality maternal healthcare services was widely cited for one of the recurrent themes from our interview data is
both non-use of the services and a high level of prefer- the issue of trust in both the healthcare system and the
ence for services offered by non-government healthcare providers of care. A pre-requisite for effective patient-
providers. At both Buipe rural clinic and Sankpala health provider interaction is the patient’s trust that the pro-
centre where we were able to systematically observe the vider is knowledgeable and motivated to provide the best
doings of ANC clinics, overcrowding and long delays care available [32]. In the districts where this research
were evident. Women were found sleeping on benches took place however, women’s narratives and testimo-
or sitting on cemented floors for long hours before they nies - which were largely, corroborated by healthcare
were hurriedly attended to. It is within the above context workers – show that increasing distrust in the know-
that some of the women interviewed for this study were ledge, skills, practices and competence of maternity
willing in some instances to travel further in order to care facilities and caregivers (nurses and midwives)
access quality care. and the safety and efficacy of the ANC, delivery and
While many women believed the quality of care they post-delivery care they provide to women, is undermin-
were receiving under the free maternal healthcare policy ing access.
was generally poor, a number of the healthcare providers
interviewed gave conflicting answers. One male health- I think many women are not going to hospitals
care provider puts the quality of care problem this way: because of the people there…I mean the nurses. Some
time ago we had good nurses and midwives at the
I think our pregnant women are smart…they know hospital… they understood what it is like to be
that they can benefit from ANC or DC services and pregnant or be in labour because they themselves have
therefore they come to the clinic/hospital. At the same been through it. But nowadays, all those old nurses
time they know that in an ANC clinic or a labour are not there… the place is filled with small, small,
ward in a health facility they are hardly better off, so small nurses and midwives who don’t know how to
they choose not to come or simply deliver at home take care of pregnant women because they have no
(Male Healthcare Provider, KII, Accra). experience of giving birth. So when you go to them for
help, you are in trouble… they don’t take proper care
Others however believed quality of care had actually of you (Pregnant Woman, FGD, Tidrope).
improved. Even where they acknowledged that the care
quality was sub-standard, they often justified it by refer- A lactating mother also said:
ence to lack of monetary resources to purchase medical
equipment and drugs or limited number of health staff You see those young nurses and midwives at the
or the increased workload wrought by the free maternity hospital are not doing well at all. Normally they feel
care policy itself. that they know book, but in fact they don’t know how
to deliver a woman properly because they all have
One of the good things about the free maternity care never given birth. One of the midwives…she is younger
policy is that we have been able to considerably than my daughter, how can she deliver me? How can
improve the quality of the services we now provide. As they help you deliver when they have never even been
pregnant themselves? Look… Antie Maggie solve. Even there is a lot of new equipment in our stock
[referring to a TBA] who doesn’t even know book, that we don’t use because we don’t actually know
when you are in labour and they call her to come and how to use them. So, when we try our best and still
deliver you, you will see how she will run to you… there is a problem and we refer the patient to Tamale
even the way she will talk to you…you will not teaching hospital or Kintampo, the community people
even be aware and the baby will just come out say we don’t know anything (Female Healthcare
(Lactating Mother, FGD, Kuntanase). Provider, KII, Mpaha).
Another participant adds: District and regional health directors as well as public
health nurses were similarly aware of this trust issue.
Are you asking why I didn’t go to check my pregnancy? But they explained that they were caught between scar-
Some of the nurses are to blame…because they city/necessity and rejection at the same time. On the
don’t take good care of us like some time ago one hand over 50% of the already limited qualified mid-
(Pregnant Woman, KII, Abono). wives are retiring from active service. This has necessi-
tated the training of young midwives. On the other hand
Interestingly, women’s lack of trust in caregivers was however, these young midwives are facing rejection in
based on other criteria than strict evaluation of whether their various healthcare facilities by the very communi-
caregivers have been adequately trained to obtain the ties they are suppose to help.
required clinical skills to give maternity care. Rather,
women often made a distinction, albeit tacitly, between We know that many women prefer the older midwives
having experiential knowledge of pregnancy and child- because of the perception that some of these young
birth on the one hand, and acquiring book knowledge midwives have no experience of childbirth or that they
about pregnancy and childbirth on the other. Women are not friendly enough. So if the older midwives are
argued that although book knowledge is necessary, a not there, the women choose not to come to the health
midwife ought to have had a personal experience of facility. But, you see we are short of midwives already
pregnancy and childbirth. Such a midwife, the women and there is urgent need to train more so they can
suggested, did not only possess the ‘technical know how’ take over from the older ones who are leaving the
of pregnancy and childbirth particularly in times of system. (Female Healthcare Provider, KII, Tamale).
complications, but also is well positioned to empathise.
Empathy and sharing of personal experiences are two That there is a trust problem in Ghana’s maternal
elements that all the women in this study believed were health system, which is increasingly undermining efforts
important, especially for safe natural delivery. However, to ensure increased and equitable access to skilled care
the women noted that most of the young midwives pos- is therefore no exaggeration. What is unclear from our
sess only book knowledge, but are unable to empathise interviews and discussions with women and healthcare
or relate to their [women] experiences. It is therefore the providers however is the source of this distrust. Few
absence of empathy and sharing in the maternity care healthcare providers suggested that distrust in the care
practices of young female midwives more generally, and system might have existed prior to the implementation
male midwives in particular, that makes older female of the free maternity care policy. For the majority of
midwives and TBAs highly preferred. women in this study the period of free maternity care in
Interviews with frontline midwives/nurses and health- Ghana is also a period of widespread distrust in health
care personnel in senior management capacities also re- facility-base maternity care. Both women and healthcare
veal their awareness of women’s diminishing trust in the providers’ accounts suggest that the marginal increase in
healthcare system. demand for skilled care services initially occasioned by
the implementation of the policy, and the concomitant
What we have heard is that, the women don’t come to training and deployment of young midwives to both aug-
the health facilities because they feel we are young and ment and replace aging midwives, may have aggravated
have no experiences of childbirth…that we only have the trust problem.
book knowledge. To some extent, the women are right.
Look at this health centre we serve about 64 Intimidation, choice, and access
communities, and yet there is no midwife. So many The implementation of free maternal healthcare policy
times we the community health nurses are the ones in Ghana has been accompanied by a progressive and
conducting ANC, deliveries and post-delivery clinics. aggressive medicalisation of the human reproductive
But we all have not had training in midwifery, so process – from fertility control, family planning and
sometimes there are some problems we are unable to pregnancy management, to medical interventions during
childbirth and postpartum period. Although this is gener- choices related to labour and birthing as well as who
ally seen as essential to reducing maternal and neonatal should witness their birth. For example, women ex-
mortality in Ghana, focus group discussions and inter- pressed their preference for delivering in an upright pos-
views with women show that many have found this ition including sitting on a stool or chair, squatting or
process intimidating and choice restricting. Consequently, sitting upon the side of the bed or being held by other
and as a way of both resisting this progressive medicalisa- women that come to labour. Women who have had
tion and reclaiming control over their reproductive health, home delivery and therefore the opportunity to choose
many women are not accessing and using the skilled their birth position noted that delivering in an upright
birthing services that are provided at healthcare facilities. position facilitated birth of the baby as well as removal
During interviews, women spoke passionately about of the placenta. They however noted that the recumbent
the naturalness of pregnancy and childbirth. Many be- position favoured by nurses and midwives contributed to
lieved that, as much as possible, there should be limited general difficulty of delivery. Despite this, delivering on
‘unnatural’ intervention or interference during pregnancy the hospital bed, usually a flat and non-inclining bed, in
and childbirth. It is in part the idea of the naturalness of a supine or recumbent position is the accepted birth
pregnancy and childbirth that causes childbearing women position in most healthcare facilities in Ghana. Similarly,
in this study to be apprehensive of any interventions family members and friends are usually not permitted
believed to be ‘unnatural’, including caesarean section. into the labour ward. Yet, many women said they feel
Women particularly emphasised the need for choice in more confortable delivering with their family members
terms of place and position of birth as well as the desir- present to offer support. Since nurses and midwives did
ability of limited intimidation during pregnancy and child- not usually allow this in the health facility, they found
birth. These were thought to greatly facilitate the natural home birth more confortable.
processes of childbirth. Many however lamented that the
care that healthcare facilities and healthcare providers For me, giving birth at home is more comfortable.
offer were often less choice enhancing and less stress-free. I gave birth at home where my mother, my
First, intimidation. For women, the hospital – itself an mother-in-law and other neighbours were available to
unnatural environment - with all its modern techno- support and care for me. In the hospital, I will not get
logical edifices is a rather intimating and disabling envir- all this support (Lactating Mother, FGD, Piase).
onment to give birth. One woman said:
For the women in this study, successful pregnancy and
I don’t like the hospital. All those funny funny delivery requires that women be given the chance to
machines that the doctors use make me fear the place. choose where to deliver and in which position.
When I had my first son, it was in the hospital and
the doctor put this huge thing … it was like a big Silent care, maltreatment, and access
scissors [referring to forceps] into my private part. It Several of the women interviewed also recounted their
was terrible! Also, the smell of medicine and the experiences of how they were chided and scolded for
screaming of other patients…it just makes me sicker. not coming to the healthcare facility early to seek care
So unless I am really suffering or dying, I prefer not to or when they did not attend ANC clinics or when they
go (Pregnant Women, FGD, Kuntanase). used an alternative medicine or when they failed to prac-
tice birth control or when they asked the nurses/mid-
A lactating mother adds: wives/doctors questions related to their (women) health
or that of their baby. Particular reference was made to
I didn’t deliver at the clinic because I wanted nurses, midwives and female health providers in general,
to be at a place like my house where I can feel as exhibiting poor attitude towards pregnant and
free to spit, urinate, cry and do anything that I feel labouring women. Others related how they were often
like doing. In the hospital, the nurses will not offered ‘silent treatment’ and treated like ‘children’ and
allow you or they will even insult you, and this in some instances threatened with treatment with-
makes it hard for you to relax and deliver well drawals if they failed to adhere to advice and instruc-
(Lactating Mother, FGD, Sankpala). tions from healthcare workers. One participant relates
her experience thus:
But intimidation is not the only thing that prevents
women from accessing and using skilled care services. I have made up my mind not to go to that hospital
The restrictions placed on their ability to decide on [referring to Kuntanase hospital] again. Because, the
where and how to give birth, is another reason. Women nurses are suppose to know and tell me what is wrong.
believed that nurses, midwives and doctors limited their But the last time I went, they told me to go spit my
saliva into a container and bring, I did and they ask effectively communicate health information and treatment
me to go and bring my urine too. So I asked the nurse procedures to women.
what was wrong. She didn’t say anything but asked me Our interviews with women showed that the lack of
do as I am told. But I asked again, and then she open and non-judgemental patient-doctor relationships
became angry and started to say I was a villager and that allow communication, mutual trust and respect to
that I didn’t know anything. I was embarrassed and flow between caregivers and women did have a disabling
became very angry because everybody at the clinic effect on uptake of services. This is because any time
was looking at me and laughing. We are human that a woman makes the decision to access and use ma-
beings with emotions and feelings, but they never ask ternity care services at a healthcare facility, her general
how we feel…they don’t…they really don’t care expectation is to be able to enter into a positive relation-
(Pregnant Woman, FGD, Kuntanase). ship with the healthcare provider so as to enable her ad-
dress her healthcare needs and concerns. Women expect
Women reported that scolding, maltreatment and si- warm conversation, sharing, and empathy to develop be-
lent treatment were particularly worse in government tween them and their healthcare provider. Women also
healthcare facilities than in private facilities - a phe- expect that when they seek care at the health facility,
nomenon, women said, discouraged them from seeking not only should nurses/midwives/doctors offer them the
skilled care services when in need. Discussants said that necessary treatments but also they [caregivers] should
health workers in private health facilities were more hos- help them [women] to understand their health problems,
pitable than their counterparts in state-run services that provide guidance needed for making informed decisions
often abused patients. In this way, ownership of a health about their health as well as answer their questions or
facility emerged as an important determinant of the respond to any health concerns they may have. Because
nature of treatment received. In Sankpala health centre most women have limited education, they strongly de-
and Buipe clinic where we observed the conduct of ante- pend on the oral advice and information from healthcare
natal and post-natal clinics, several medical procedures workers. Unfortunately, several women reported that
including blood pressure and temperature check-ups, their expectations are very often not met. Rather, author-
weighing, and immunisation were conducted on women ity and passivity heavily characterise the interactions
and their babies without any accompanying explanations between healthcare workers and women, especially in
of the purpose of the medical procedure or its functions. the ANC clinic or labour ward. Thus doctor-patient rela-
Women also regularly stood up when responding to tionships are structured around power and control. This
questions from nurses. At the same time, nurses seemed created a significant gap between existing maternal health
unperturbed by the precarious condition of most preg- services and women’s requirements for supportive care.
nant women neither did they seem to be mindful of the This gap was often compounded by the cultural and func-
fact that some of these women were far older than they tional adjustments women often have to undergo when a
(nurses) were. Note that age within most Ghanaian visit or referral is made to an unfamiliar health facility
societies has social significance. It confers on older per- setting or healthcare provider. The combined effect of
sons a right to particular treatment, including respect, this has been to discourage access to, and utilisation of
especially from younger people. As we later learnt, services.
nurses’ failure to respect elderly women at the clinic
is one reason why some women choose not to con- Privacy and access
sult nurses and midwives. A few women however re- Women also reported that under the current maternal and
vealed that in order to receive the care and treatment newborn healthcare regime in Ghana, hospital and clinical
they need or avoid getting into conflicts with nurses, structures and practices make it extremely difficult to
they often have to accept the scolding, intimidation and maintain privacy when treatment is being received or when
disrespect in maternity wards without openly expressing discussing their healthcare concerns with nursing staff.
their feelings.
Most of the healthcare workers interviewed appeared You see, I can get up and go to Antie Maggie [referring
quite aware of what the women called the silent care to a community TBA] to check my pregnancy and
and maltreatments. However, they either underestimated nobody in this house will know. But if I go to the
the effects this has on women’s health-seeking behav- clinic, there are so many other people sitting there.
iours or justified it by reference to work overload and Everybody is listening to what you are telling the
tiredness that often stressed healthcare workers. Others nurses…sometimes, there are things you want to tell
also justified silent treatment on grounds of language dif- only the nurse or you want to ask the nurse alone.
ferences between healthcare workers and patients, which But because there are other patients, you can’t
sometimes made it difficult for nurses and midwives to (Pregnant Woman, FGD, Tidrope).
One participant also relates: ability to access and use skilled care services. Limited
and unequal distribution of skilled maternity care ser-
I didn’t deliver at the hospital because the vices was found to be an important health system barrier
first time I gave birth at the hospital…it was not too that hindered women’s access to and use of maternity
good for me. I didn’t like the way the place was open. care services. While the mere availability or equal distri-
There were other patients, nurses, midwives and bution of maternity care services might not guarantee
doctors in the labour ward. So everyone could see you automatic access or utilization for all women, our re-
or hear what you are doing. I think it would be search with women in the two study districts clearly
better if every patient had their own delivery room, showed that the unavailability of skilled care services in
or even if they can use curtains to cover you several communities, coupled with the related problems
(Lactating Mother, FGD, Abono). of long travel distance and time, difficulties with arran-
ging transport, the high cost of arranging transportation
Despite the importance women attached to privacy, in- as well as the opportunity costs of travelling long dis-
terviews with nurses, midwives and healthcare managers tances in order to seek care, constituted a major barrier
showed that ensuring privacy was often not an issue of to access. Our findings here therefore suggest that al-
primary concern. The few who acknowledged the rele- though removing user-fees has the potential to improve
vance of preserving privacy in ANC clinics and labour access to skilled care, it is neither sufficient nor appro-
wards even countered the argument by highlighting the priate for increasing and sustaining access in some con-
limitations imposed by infrastructural constraints. texts. Therefore the policy debates on user-fees removal
ought to proceed beyond broad evaluation of the bene-
I think that it is good that we maintain some level of fits and/ or impact of user-fees removal towards explor-
privacy in our maternity wards. But the issue is, when ing how best to dismantle and address the multiplicity of
you don’t have space or when you have only one access and utilisation barriers other than money in dif-
person attending to several hundreds of women, how fering contexts. In this regard, we believe a concerted
are we supposed to maintain privacy? We really can’t, multi-sectorial approach is needed, including improving
unless we choose to take care of few women and ignore the availability of physical health infrastructure and
the rest (Female Healthcare Provider, KII, Sankpala). human resources as well as addressing disparities in dis-
tribution. Also, there will be the need for better planning
Indeed, our observations around ANC clinics and ma- and the institutionalisation of a booking or appointment
ternity wards showed that privacy was neither ensured regime so as to reduce overcrowding in health facilities
nor given serious importance. For example, case histor- and long waiting times before care is received. This of
ies and clinical examination of pregnant women took course could be problematic to implement in the short
place in the midst of others waiting to be attended to. term especially in remote areas where communication
This was confounded by nurses’ penchant for interviewing and transportation services might be lacking. However,
women in loud voices. This made it very easy for those in the long term, healthcare facilities can establish systems
waiting to hear the health problems or concerns of other in local communities that could be used to facilitate book-
women. For fear of ones health problems being subjects of ing before attendance. For instance, community health
gossip, many women said they felt constrained telling workers could be trained and equipped with mobile com-
nurses all their health concerns within those settings. For munication devices. These community health workers
these women, the limited privacy within the health facility could then be tasked with the responsibility of receiving
setting and the way in which caregivers ignored this cru- booking requests from women in the community and
cial aspect of care was an important barrier to accessibility then communicating such requests to the appropriate
and utilisation of skilled care services. healthcare facilities.
Poor care quality was also identified as a major health
Discussion system barrier to service use. Elsewhere, other researchers
This paper explored health system factors that limit have drawn attention to bad quality care as a barrier to
women’s access to and use of skilled maternal and new- accessibility and utilization of skilled care services in low-
born healthcare services in Ghana despite these services income countries [30,31]. While our study was unable to
being provided free. The paper responds to recent calls trace the genesis of substandard care practices within
for more empirical research to understand the remaining the maternal healthcare system in Ghana, it was clear
barriers to maternal and newborn healthcare access in that the period of free maternity care had seen a decline
contexts where services are provided free of charge [17]. in the quality of care that women received in healthcare
Qualitative findings suggest that several health system facilities. Indeed, previous research and reports have
factors have acted alone or jointly to inhibit women’s highlighted the issue of poor care quality. For example,
one previous clinical evaluation of hospital-based ma- not only undermined, but also women failed to access
ternity care in Ghana found that on admission women and utilise skilled care services offered by such institu-
often received poor care [27]. Our analysis of literature tions or care providers. This is consistent with one re-
related to the overall performance of Ghana’s healthcare cent qualitative study in Cambodia, which reported that
delivery system also suggested that the issue of poor women’s perception of the limited midwifery competences
maternity care quality might be linked to a generalised of skilled birth attendants at health centres undermined
health delivery system problem [28]. For instance, a their decision and willingness to access and use services
recent World Bank evaluation of the health sector in [33]. Women’s distrust in the skills of caregivers and ma-
Ghana similarly concluded that Ghana’s health facilities ternity care institutions in our study appears to re-echo
do not meet appropriate standards of care: ‘most clinics, the findings of one previous clinical evaluation panel in
health centres and maternity homes did not have appro- Ghana, which reported that the competence and ability of
priate standards for emergency obstetric and neonatal health personnel to deal with obstetric emergencies was
care’ ([29], p.48). inadequate; hence they seemed ill prepared to deal with
Because of poor care quality, our discussions and some of the common obstetric conditions [27]. In addition
interviews with women revealed that in some instances, to improving the midwifery skills and competencies of
women travelled longer distances to health facilities nurses, there is an urgent need for the Ghana health
where qualitative of care was perceived to be better. service to institute trust-building programmes that will
That women were willing to commute longer distances enable women to understand that the young midwives can
to access quality care is particularly interesting because equally take good care of them if they [women] come to
it shows that women sometimes consider the quality of them [midwives].
care more than the cost. This is one of the central argu- The study also found limited birthing choices and lack
ments Thaddeus and Maine [13] made in their well- of privacy at healthcare facilities to be a major health
known ‘three delays model’ of accessing maternity care system barrier. Within reproductive medicine, ‘choice’
services. Our findings here are therefore significant in and ‘right to choose’ are terminologies very explicitly as-
highlighting the fact that poor quality of maternal and sociated with women’s control over their reproductive
newborn healthcare services, real or perceptual, does pre- decision making. In many high-income countries in the
vent women from accessing and using care services even West, a shift from highly medicalised hospital births to
if such services are freely available. women-friendly midwifery approaches to childbirth has
If access to skilled care is to be increased in Ghana, occurred during the last two decades [34]. In the UK for
there is the need for improvement in care quality. This example, government recommendations about the choice
is more so because it would be unethical to continue to of maternity care since the early 1990s have been that, the
promote access to known bad maternal health services. policy of encouraging all women to give birth in hospitals
Besides, the focus in the past few decades on encour- cannot be justified on grounds of safety and that women’s
aging a shift from home-based to institutional delivery choices should be allowed [34]. Despite this, for several of
will be misplaced if efforts to improve the quality of care the women sampled in our study there are limited birthing
a women receives in a health facility is not improved. choices which the modern Ghanaian system of healthcare
Further research to not only assess the quality of mater- offered, and this has largely acted to exclude several
nity care provisioning, but also to develop simple, replic- women who desire some choice and freedom during preg-
able assessment tools and techniques that could be used nancy or labour.
to evaluate the quality of care provided at health facilities By choice, women talked about freedom and opportun-
would be important. The development and use of such ity to decide and to disclaim, and to accept and to repu-
tools could enable maternity care providers and healthcare diate. Unfortunately, women said these were all options
managers to easily identify maternity care facilities that often denied them under the current maternal healthcare
deliver sub-standard or sub-optimal care. This could be system in Ghana. For example, despite years of advocacy
important for both making and monitoring the desired for domiciliary delivery with skilled health personnel in at-
levels of improvements. tendance to address women’s special needs, the hospital
Women’s distrust in the ability of some healthcare remains the only sanctioned birthplace where women are
facilities or healthcare providers to properly address expected to be delivered and to be covered by the free ma-
their maternity needs was another health system barrier ternal health policy. In instances where women have
to service use. In our focus groups and key informant expressed a desire to be delivered at home by a trained
interviews, it was clear that where there was erosion of birth attendant, healthcare workers do not often support
trust or confidence whether in a health institution or a such desires. Similarly, nurses and midwives would usually
healthcare provider, the legitimacy and scientific and not go to women’s homes to conduct deliveries even if
therapeutic authority of such institutions or persons was they are called upon to do so. Rather, midwives expect the
labouring woman to be brought into the health facility clinical and relational quality of care, and enhancing pro-
before help was offered. vider competencies.
It might be true that limiting women’s birthing choices Findings also suggest that although many women
to a health facility setting in Ghana is the best way to desired privacy in maternity wards, privacy was neither
improve maternal and newborn health outcomes. An ensured nor given serious importance. That women de-
argument for choice would therefore have to take this sired privacy was largely because of its symbolic and
into account as well as the ability of the health system to practical importance in the management of pregnancy
effectively promote the particular choice. Indeed, given and childbirth. Within the socio-cultural milieu of the
that current global consensus on improving maternal communities in which our research took place, preg-
and newborn health puts emphasis on health facility nancy and childbirth are phenomena often consigned to
delivery, it is perhaps out of fashion, if not controversial, the private sphere. The processes leading from concep-
to raise the point about where childbirth takes place. tion to birth, and even immediately after birth, are
However, as findings in this study show, the provision of shrouded in secrecy, and all efforts are made to shield
skilled maternity care services free-of-charge at health- the process from the prying public eye. It is within this
care facilities only, although may be in the long term context that women insisted on keeping what is private,
interest of birthing women, limited their choices and private. It is also in this light that women found the ma-
discouraged access to care. ternal healthcare services offered at clinics, health cen-
Women’s experiences of intimidation, unfriendly health- tres and hospitals lacking in offering choice, protecting
care providers and cultural insensitivity in healthcare their privacy or simply keeping the private, private. In
facilities were another set of health system factors that this regard, it will be important for clinical structures
discouraged women from seeking skilled care. Inter- and procedures to be restructured to preserve the privacy
views with women showed that the lack of open and of women. For instance, in health facilities where private
non-judgemental patient-doctor relationships that allow consulting rooms are limited, curtains could be used in
communication, mutual trust and respect to flow be- open wards to create private small spaces where consult-
tween caregivers and women did have a disabling effect ation could be held. This will at least ensure that the con-
on uptake of services. This supports the findings of sultation process is not held in the open.
other studies in Africa that showed that bad relational In sum, our study has shown that fundamental weak-
practices of healthcare provides have a negative effect nesses in Ghana’s maternal healthcare delivery system
on access to, and equitable use of skilled care [31,35]. have contributed to poor access and use of skilled care
Surprisingly, many of the healthcare providers inter- services. This knowledge reinforces the findings of other
viewed remained unaware of, or simply ignored the im- studies in some parts of Africa that have identified lack
pact of their relational practices on women’s maternity of access and inequitable access to skilled maternity care
care seeking behaviours. With growing global emphasis services as a function of poorly functioning health sys-
on the principle of autonomy (the idea that people tems [37-39]. Our findings are also unique in challen-
should be able to reflect on their own best interests and ging efforts that concentrate on providing free maternity
make decisions for themselves) and patients involvement care without the needed regard for availability, accessi-
in healthcare, it is particularly worrying that Ghana’s bility, and the quality of care provided. This aspect of
maternal health system follows the traditional model of the discussion further highlights how a focus on patient-
doctor-patient relationship in clinical practice where the side or demand-side factors can conceal the fact that
physician has a paternal role, making decisions about what many health systems and maternity healthcare facilities
is believed to be in the best interest of the patient, and the in low-income settings such as Ghana are still chronic-
patient is expected to accept treatment or advice without ally under-resourced and incapable of effectively provid-
question [36]. As a way to redress the situation and ing an acceptable minimum quality of care in the event
improve women’s experience of skilled care within the for- of serious obstetric complications. Ghana’s progress to-
mal healthcare system, we recommend the development wards achieving the maternal and child health-related
of a standard guideline - albeit with possibilities for mak- Millennium Development Goals would greatly benefit
ing adjustments to address context-specific issues – that from efforts that address these negative attributes of the
could be implemented across all healthcare facilities to healthcare system.
improve the treatment expectant mothers and their Our findings and recommendations should however
immediate family receive at healthcare facilities. We also be read against the backdrop of certain limitations. The
directly call for changes in midwifery and obstetrical and qualitative research reported in this paper was con-
gynaecological education and practices, including empha- ducted in only six communities and in two districts of
sising patient-centred care and behaviour change strategies Ghana. While focusing on a small number of communi-
for healthcare providers and service users, improving both ties enabled us to gain a more in-depth understanding,
we recognise the limitation of generalising the findings As access, especially equity of access and use of skilled
to other parts of the country, as it may not be represen- maternal health interventions continues to be an essen-
tative of what is prevalent in the entire population. The tial ingredient to the reduction of maternal and newborn
above notwithstanding, important lessons can be drawn mortality and the attainment of the maternal and child
from our findings regarding what is actually happening health-related MDGs [8], there is an urgent need in
in practice following the implementation of the free Ghana to ensure that all pregnant and labouring women
maternal health policy Ghana. have full access to skilled care services as and when they
In addition, the fact that the data was collected be- need them. There is therefore the need for these services
tween 2011 and 2012 is of concern. One can assume to be organised and delivered in a way that is medically
that much has happened since then and that conclusions appropriate, socially sensitive, and culturally responsive.
drawn from these data may not capture current utilisa- This means that the extent to which the healthcare system
tion levels. In addition, collecting data through recall of in Ghana becomes more responsive to the pregnancy and
reproductive history generates information that is even birthing care needs of women including respect as re-
older than the date of collection, and this may also be flected by the degree to which the health system is sensi-
associated with a risk of recall bias. These notwithstand- tive to women’s needs, dignity, confidentiality, choice and
ing, we believe the broad patterns of women’s experiences autonomy as well as the level of attention given to clients
of accessing and using maternal healthcare services are in terms of promptness, quality of environment, and ac-
likely to remain. Important lessons can therefore be drawn cess to social assistance, would be an important determin-
from the findings in this paper to inform policies that ant of increased and equitable access to skilled maternal
seek to encourage women to use skilled maternity care and newborn healthcare in Ghana.
services.
Conclusion Consent
The analysis of data from interviews and focus groups Written informed consent was obtained from the patient
with women and healthcare providers in Ghana in this for the publication of this report and any accompanying
paper suggests that although Ghana’s free maternal health- images.
care policy appears to have shifted the birthplace choice of
a significant number of Ghanaian women from the Competing interests
home towards formal healthcare institutions, the mater- The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
nal healthcare delivery system in Ghana lack many attri-
butes of a functional healthcare system. The healthcare Authors’ contributions
system is still characterized by limited and unequal distri- JKG conceived the study, JKG, MP and RF contributed to the design, JKG and
bution of maternity services, poor quality of care, distrust EO collected the data, JKG, MP and RF contributed to the data analysis,
JKG and EO drafted the manuscript, JKG, EO, MP, RF reviewed the draft.
in the healthcare system, difficulties relating to arranging All authors read and approved the final draft.
suitable transportation to facilitate efficient referrals,
women’s experiences of intimidation in healthcare facil-
ities, unfriendly healthcare providers, cultural insensitivity, Acknowledgement
This research was funded by a Wellcome Trust Doctoral Studentship as part of
long waiting time before care is received, limited birthing a Wellcome Trust Enhancement Award (Number 087285) to the Ethox Centre,
choices, and lack of privacy at healthcare facilities. Thus Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford. The Ethox
the anticipation of attending an inadequately equipped Centre’s work in Global Health Bioethics is supported by a Wellcome Trust
Strategic Award (096527). However, the funder played no role in the design,
and dysfunctional health facility, where the potential for data collection, analysis, interpretation of data, writing of the manuscript, and
further referrals to more distant hospitals with significant the decision to submit the manuscript for publication. The authors are grateful
costs implications is rife, partly explains why some women to all the study participants, especially the pregnant and lactating mothers.
We also acknowledge the dedication and hard work of our research assistants.
in Ghana do not use skilled maternal and newborn health
services at health facilities. Even where skilled maternal Author details
1
and newborn healthcare services are available at no or Department of Geography and Rural Development, Population, Health and
Gender Studies Group, Faculty of Social Sciences, Kwame Nkrumah University
minimal cost, and can be physically accessed, our study of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana. 2Nuffield Department of
found that such services can be unfriendly, socially de- Population Health, The Ethox Centre, University of Oxford, Rosemary Rue
grading or even abusive to women. These attributes of the Building, Old Road Campus, Headington, Oxford OX3 7LF, United Kingdom.
3
Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford, Rosemary
maternal healthcare system have remained fundamental Rue Building, Old Road Campus, Headington, Oxford OX3 7LF, United
to understandings of why many women continue to de- Kingdom. 4Department of Community Health, School of Medical Sciences,
liver their babies at home despite government efforts to Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana.
ensure that all births take place in health facilities under Received: 31 July 2014 Accepted: 11 December 2014
the supervision of trained health professionals.
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Ganle et al.

BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth (2014) 14:425

RESEARCH ARTICLE Open Access

A qualitative study of health system barriers to

Table 1 Basic characteristics of the study communities

Table 2 Thematic network analysis framework (from codes to global themes)

References 27. Ansong-Tornui J, Armar-Klemesu M, Arhinful D, Penfold S, Hussein J:

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