Submission ID 118269
| Issue/Objective | Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) represent a growing burden across West Africa, where fragmented healthcare financing and governance structures create significant disparities in care access. This study examines how patients with NCDs in Ghana, Niger, and Burkina Faso navigate these disparities by strategically engaging with both biomedical and traditional healthcare systems-a critical example of how Indigenous knowledge integration manifests in everyday healthcare practices. |
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| Methodology/Approach | Drawing on qualitative data from interviews with patients, healthcare providers, traditional healers, and policymakers, we analyze how power dynamics between healthcare systems shape patient navigation while highlighting the innovations patients develop to overcome resource constraints. |
| Results | Our findings demonstrate that truly people-centered care must acknowledge patients as active agents who make sophisticated healthcare choices based on efficacy, affordability, and cultural alignment. Economic barriers emerge as the primary determinant of healthcare trajectories, revealing how financing mechanisms fundamentally shape health equity. We document how family networks function as informal financing systems that partially address systemic gaps but remain insufficient without structural reforms. Importantly, our cross-country comparison reveals varying degrees of traditional medicine integration, with Ghana's more advanced framework offering valuable lessons for South-South knowledge exchange. |
| Discussion/Conclusion | We propose a framework that reconceptualizes health governance to center patient agency and integrate Indigenous healthcare knowledge with biomedical approaches. This analysis provides critical insights for developing collaborative governance models that bridge healthcare systems, reform financing mechanisms to address disparities, and build trust through recognizing diverse knowledge systems. These findings directly inform innovations in people-centered policy approaches that can transform NCD care access and financing across resource-constrained settings globally. |
| Presenters and affiliations | Abdul-Basit Abdul-Samed Ghana College of Physicians & Surgeons Dina Balabanova London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Neil Spicer London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Augustina Koduah University of Ghana Lucy Yevoo Ghana College of Physicians & Surgeons Salamatou Yamba LASDEL Teoma Mamad LASDEL Kabore Anicet Université Catholique de l'Afrique de l'Ouest - Unité Universitaire at Bobo-Dioulasso [Catholic University of West Africa - University Unit at Bobo-Dioulasso] (UCAO-UUB). Tolib Mirzoev London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Kezia Amerley Amarteyfio Ghana College of Physicians & Surgeons Irene Agyepong Ghana College of Physicians & Surgeons |
