Articles

The Future of Social Care in Ghana: Building a Sustainable, Inclusive and Community-Based Care System

Ghana’s future social care system will be shaped by population ageing, changing families, disability inclusion, chronic illness, urbanisation and persistent regional inequality. The challenge is not simply to expand formal...

What Ghana Can Learn from International Long-Term Care Systems — and What Other Countries Can Learn from Ghana

Countries are developing long-term care through very different combinations of public funding, insurance, family support, community services and formal providers. Ghana can learn from these experiences without importing systems designed...

Financing Sustainable Long-Term Care in Ghana: Building a Fairer Settlement for an Ageing Population

Ghana’s long-term care is still financed largely through families, household income, unpaid caregiving and fragmented public programmes rather than a dedicated care-financing system. As population ageing increases demand, the challenge...

Building Integrated Community Care in Ghana: Connecting Health, Social Protection and Local Support

Ghana already has many of the components needed for stronger community care, including CHPS, district health services, social welfare, social protection, rehabilitation, community organisations and extensive family support. The challenge...

Data and Evidence for Ghana’s Ageing and Long-Term Care System: Measuring Need, Outcomes and Inequality

Ghana has increasingly strong demographic, health and social data, but building a long-term care system requires evidence that connects population ageing with functional ability, unpaid care, service access, quality and...

Technology and Digital Care in Ghana: Expanding Access, Coordination and Independence as the Population Ages

Digital health, mobile connectivity and electronic information systems are creating new possibilities for supporting older people in Ghana, particularly where distance, workforce capacity and fragmented services affect access. This article...

Gender and Long-Term Care in Ghana: Women, Caregiving and Inequality Across the Life Course

Gender shapes long-term care in Ghana long before somebody develops significant support needs. Women provide a disproportionate share of unpaid care, while employment, informal work, widowhood, income and pension histories...

Urbanisation and Care in Ghana: How Changing Communities Are Reshaping Family Support

Ghana’s rapid urbanisation is changing where families live, how households organise care and what older people can expect from traditional support networks. This article examines how migration, smaller urban households,...

Rural Ageing and Long-Term Care in Ghana: Geography, Inequality and Access to Support

Ageing in rural Ghana is shaped not only by health and functional need but by distance, transport, household resources, migration and the availability of local services. This article examines how...

Person-Centred Care in Ghana: Strengthening Choice, Dignity, Culture and Individualised Support in Later Life

Person-centred care in Ghana must work within a system where families, communities, healthcare services and emerging formal support all shape later life. This article examines how dignity, choice, culture, communication...

Safeguarding Older Adults in Ghana: Preventing Abuse, Neglect, Financial Harm and Community Exclusion

Safeguarding older people in Ghana extends beyond responding to visible abuse. Financial exploitation, neglect, coercion, harmful accusations, isolation and failures in care can emerge within families, communities and formal services,...

Safeguarding Older Adults in Ghana: Preventing Abuse, Neglect and Financial Harm in Later Life

Safeguarding older people in Ghana requires more than responding to visible abuse. Financial exploitation, neglect, coercion, harmful beliefs, property disputes and failures of care can emerge within families, communities and...

Supporting Ghana’s Informal Caregivers: Training, Respite, Recognition and Economic Protection

Unpaid family caregivers provide much of Ghana’s day-to-day support for older people, often combining personal care, household responsibilities, healthcare coordination and financial support with employment and their own family lives....

Developing Ghana’s Social Care Workforce: Skills, Professionalisation and Workforce Sustainability

Ghana’s future long-term care system will depend not only on financing and service models but on whether a capable care workforce can develop alongside them. This article examines the emerging...

Residential Care for Older People in Ghana: Quality, Regulation and the Future Role of Care Homes

Residential care remains a relatively small but increasingly important part of Ghana’s response to ageing, disability and changing family support. This article examines where care homes may fit within a...

Long-Term Conditions and Multimorbidity in Ghana: What Population Ageing Means for Care Systems

As Ghana’s population ages, more people will live for longer with combinations of hypertension, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, arthritis, sensory loss and other long-term conditions. This article examines why multimorbidity requires...

Mental Health and Older People in Ghana: Closing the Gap Between Need and Community Support

Mental health in later life is becoming increasingly important as Ghana’s population ages, yet depression, anxiety, grief, cognitive change and severe mental illness can remain hidden behind physical illness, stigma...

Dementia Care in Ghana: Improving Awareness, Diagnosis, Family Support and Community Response

Dementia is becoming a more important care-system issue in Ghana as population ageing increases, yet recognition, diagnosis and continuing support remain uneven. Families provide most day-to-day care while stigma, limited...

Community-Based Rehabilitation in Ghana: Building Independence, Participation and Inclusive Support Close to Home

Community-based rehabilitation has a long history in Ghana, but its strongest purpose extends far beyond delivering rehabilitation outside institutions. A modern community approach connects health, education, livelihoods, social participation and...

Ghana’s Disability Policy and Legal Framework: Turning Rights into Everyday Support

Ghana has a substantial disability-rights framework, from constitutional protections and the Persons with Disability Act, 2006 to its commitments under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities....

Disability Support in Ghana: Rights, Inclusion and the Development of Community-Based Services

Ghana has established an important legal and policy foundation for disability rights, but practical inclusion still depends on accessible services, community infrastructure, economic participation and effective local implementation. This article...

Social Protection and Older People in Ghana: Income Security, Vulnerability and Access to Support

Social protection is increasingly important to Ghana’s response to population ageing, but older people experience very different levels of income, family support, health coverage and financial security. This article examines...

Healthcare and Social Care Integration in Ghana: Building Better Pathways for Older People

Older Ghanaians increasingly need support that crosses healthcare, rehabilitation, social welfare, family care and community services, yet these elements do not automatically operate as one pathway. This article examines how...

Healthy Ageing in Ghana: Prevention, Independence and the Role of Community Services

Healthy ageing in Ghana increasingly depends on helping people maintain physical and mental capacity, independence and social participation rather than responding only after illness or dependency develops. This article examines...

Community-Based Care for Older People in Ghana: Building Support Closer to Home

Ghana’s ageing population is increasing the importance of support that can reach older people where they live rather than relying primarily on families or episodic hospital care. This article examines...

Family Caregiving in Ghana: Changing Households, Informal Support and the Sustainability of Care

Family caregiving remains central to support for older people in Ghana, connecting kinship, reciprocity and cultural expectations with the practical realities of illness, disability and ageing. This article examines how...

How Ghana Can Finance Long-Term Care as Family Support, Public Systems and Care Needs Change

Ghana does not yet have a dedicated long-term care financing system, leaving older people and their families to combine unpaid care, household income, pensions, healthcare coverage and privately purchased support....

Ghana’s National Ageing Policy: Turning Security, Dignity and Participation into Effective Support for Older People

Ghana’s National Ageing Policy established an ambitious framework for protecting rights, strengthening health and social support, improving income security and enabling older people to participate fully in society. More than...

Population Ageing in Ghana: Demographic Change and the Future Demand for Care and Support

Ghana remains a relatively young country, but the number of older people is rising while households, migration and urbanisation are changing the networks that have traditionally provided support. This article...

Ghana’s Ageing and Long-Term Care System: From Family Support to Sustainable Community Care

Ghana’s ageing population is increasing the importance of long-term care, community support and stronger protection for older people while families continue to provide much of the day-to-day care. This article...