ArticleHealth services insights2024
The Effects of Ghana's Free Maternal and Healthcare Policy on Maternal and Infant Healthcare: A Scoping Review.
Article in Health services insights, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Sociocultural and health system determinants of maternal mortality in Ghana: findings from a systematic review.BMC public health · 2026Pooled it
- Trends, sex and socioeconomic inequalities, and future projections of under-five mortality in Ghana from 1992 to 2035.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Geospatial disparities in infant mortality in Ghana: evidence from national data.BMJ global health · 2026Article
- Who gets to deliver in a health facility? An investigation of wealth-based inequities in institutional delivery in Ghana.BMJ open · 2026Article
- Evidence on prevalence of caesarean sections and factors influencing uptake in Ghana: a scoping review.Reproductive health · 2026Article
- Impact of eight or more antenatal care visits on intermittent preventive treatment of malaria uptake during pregnancy and facility-based delivery in Ghana: a propensity score matched analysis.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2026Article
- Assessing the costs of antenatal care in Eastern Ethiopia: implications for improving the free maternity services policy.Health policy and planning · 2026Article
- Social determinants of antenatal care utilization: an analysis of 2022 Ghana demographic and health survey.BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2026Article
- Trends and inequalities in health facility deliveries among women of reproductive age in Ghana, 1993-2022.Frontiers in reproductive health · 2026Article
- A knowledge translation toolkit for maternal health implementation planning in low- and middle-income countries: development and pilot evaluation in two countries.BMJ global health · 2025Article
- Article
- Obstetric violence informed by theories of intersectionality, oppression, and power dynamics-a Ghanaian's perspectives.AJOG global reports · 2025Article
- Awareness and barriers to accessing sexual and reproductive healthcare services among Deaf women in Krachi West District of Ghana: a qualitative study.Reproductive health · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Ghana was the first sub-Saharan country to implement a National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS). In furtherance of the nation's Universal Health Coverage (UHC) goals, in 2008, Ghana actualized plans for a Free Maternal Healthcare Policy (FMHCP) under the NHIS. The FMHCP was aimed at removing financial barriers to accessing maternal and neonatal health services. This scoping review was conducted to map out the literature on the effects of the FMHCP under the NHIS on the utilization of maternal and infant health care in Ghana. Six databases including CINAHL, PubMed, Sage Journals, Academic Search Premier, Science Direct, and Medline were searched in conducting this review with key terms. A total of 175 studies were retrieved after the search and finally, 23 articles were included in the study after various stages of elimination. The review followed the reporting guidelines stated in the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic and Meta-analyses Extensions for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR). The results showed an overall increase in the utilization of antenatal care, facility-based delivery, and postnatal care services. However, certain systemic issues persist regarding access to maternal and infant healthcare. Socio-demographic inequalities such as maternal level of education, place of residence, and economic status likewise barriers such as the existence of out-of-pocket payments, long distance to health facilities, and poor distribution of resources in rural areas hindered the utilization of maternal and infant healthcare. The country faces significant work to eliminate existing barriers and inequalities to ensure that it achieves its UHC goals.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.