Migrants In Ghana Research Articles

Accessibility and utilization of health-care services among rural–urban migrants in Ghana: A scoping review

Since the second half of the 20th century, internal migration patterns in Ghana have been dominated by movements from rural (or northern) to urban (or southern) areas. Numerous studies report wide socioeconomic gaps between the geographical north and south of Ghana, explaining the unidirectional movement in search of better opportunities. Differences in personal health profiles, values, and beliefs mean that internal migrants face a higher risk of ill health than urban natives. Compounding this issue is the barriers that impede their access to and utilization of health-care services. We synthesized evidence from existing literature to understand internal migrants’ access to and utilization of healthcare in Ghana, as well as their coping strategies. This review followed Arksey and O’Malley’s guidelines for conducting scoping reviews. We searched PubMed, EconLit, CINAHL, PsychINFO, and Medline (Ovid) electronic databases for studies published from January 2012 to June 2022. In addition, a manual literature search was conducted on Google by examining the reference lists of selected articles to identify other relevant studies. The majority of the studies (n = 12 [75%]) focused on female migrants, while 4 (25%) included both male and female migrants. This review identified several factors affecting access to health-care services for internal migrants in Ghana. These factors included infrastructural, financial, and language barriers, as well as long patient waiting times. Significantly, these barriers resulted in increased self-medication and self-diagnosis among internal migrants, leading to overall poor health outcomes. Based on the study findings, we propose a multidimensional approach to bridging the health access gap for internal migrants. This approach involves improving health system factors such as health service delivery, health workforce, availability of essential medicines, and health finance reforms to provide quality health-care services at affordable or no cost, while considering the socioeconomic and cultural conditions of the internal migrants.

“Hurdles” or “lubricants”: Petty corruption and Chinese migrants in Africa

AbstractDrawing on ethnographic fieldwork in Ghana and China between 2016 and 2022, this paper provides a sociological analysis of how new Chinese migrants in Ghana, and more generally in Sub‐Saharan Africa, navigate their social and economic integration into the host society by dealing with petty corruption in everyday life. This article examines how similarities and discrepancies in corruption norms contribute to “cultural matching” and cultural conflicts in Sino‐African encounters, as well as the coping strategies and social‐cultural techniques the migrants develop to navigate their relationship with local bureaucracy. My findings demonstrate that for migrants within the Global South, corruption in the sending and receiving regions is likely to be rooted in different politico‐economic structures and cultural grounds. Conflicting understandings of corruption can pose challenges to migrants' initial adaptation in the host society. However, as the migrants develop a proper “cultural toolkit,” engagement in corruption and rent‐seeking activities may provide a “cultural matching” interface that facilitates the rapid integration of new migrants into the local market and society. This study provides new insights into our understanding of bureaucracy in international migration, corruption, and migration settlement, as well as the sociocultural negotiation of corruption codes and norms in cross‐cultural encounters.

Young people’s involvement in migration research – opportunities for (re)shaping research priorities and practices

Young people are frequently involved in research about their own lives and their contributions to the shaping of research priorities increasingly valued. Recently, young people’s participation in research has been extended to advisory group roles including supporting the planning, design and delivery of projects. Such involvement marks an important shift towards valuing young people’s views on how research should be conducted and is often required as part of research funding processes. In this article, we explore the value and contribution of young people’s involvement in a research project focusing on the livelihoods of young migrants in Ghana and the related possibilities for empowerment. Our collaborations remind us of the pitfalls of working from an adult centric lens, and how this may inadvertently contribute to the reproduction of adult ways of understanding young lives. Here, our project Young Person Advisory Group members share their experiences of being youth advisors – highlighting both challenges and opportunities for young people’s meaningful involvement in research.

The Nexus Between Resettlement and Quality of Life of Mining-Induced Migrants in Ghana: A PLS–SEM Approach

The Nexus Between Resettlement and Quality of Life of Mining-Induced Migrants in Ghana: A PLS–SEM Approach

The Health Experiences of Young Internal Migrants in Ghana-Identifying Priorities for Sustainable Health Promotion.

The Sustainable Development Goals underscore the importance of migration to the achievement of health, and global migration presents both opportunities and challenges for the development of health promotion. Despite such recognition, very little work has focused on health promotion with young migrants, including how migration shapes opportunities for positive health. This paper reports findings from a qualitative study that sought to advance knowledge of the health experiences of young internal migrants in Ghana (n = 14) and considers ways to harness these perspectives in the development of sustainable health promotion solutions. Methods included community consultations, participatory workshops and interviews with young migrants aged 14-21 years. Findings highlighted how the social determinants of health affected young migrants' opportunities to support their health. Our analysis highlights how a lack of access to adequate food, shelter and health services often resulted in the adoption of alternative health practices, including the use of herbal remedies. Supporting positive livelihoods as part of tackling the social determinants of health is crucial to mitigate the impacts of poverty and inequalities on young migrants' health practices and outcomes. We conclude by considering how to advance relevant health promotion with young migrants living in contexts of vulnerability.

Extrinsic effect of remittance houses on desire to migrate and usage of irregular migration routes

Characteristics of remittance houses display the new financial and social status of migrants; hence, serve as a motivation for others to migrate abroad. However, this effect is highly general without specificity of how individual characteristics of remittance houses influence migration. This study hypotheses that different characteristics of remittance houses have different levels of influence on prospective migrants and their likelihood to use irregular migration routes. With the help of a structured questionnaire, the study interviewed 371 respondents in the Berekum Municipality (an out-migration hotspot in Ghana especially for persons using Sahara regions and the Strait of Gibraltar to Europe) on the external motivation of remittance houses, their desire to travel and the use of irregular routes. Locals perceived characteristics of remittance houses of migrants abroad (Mean [M] = 2.86, Standard deviation [SD] = 0.33) to be higher than non-migrants’ houses (M = 1.9, SD = 0.59) while they assigned similar scores for remittance houses of migrants in Africa (M = 2.58, SD = 0.47) and migrants in Ghana (M = 2.58, SD = 0.44). Furthermore, the exterior architecture of remittance houses (β = 0.33, p < 0.01) and social recognition accorded migrants outside Africa (β = 0.30, p < 0.01) motivated locals to migrate to Europe. Again, there was no extrinsic motivation from the characteristics of remittance houses on locals’ likelihood to use irregular migration routes. However, the social recognition accorded to migrants in Africa who own houses motivated locals to use irregular routes (β = 0.44, p < 0.01). The study recommends that the locals of Berekum should be educated by the traditional authorities, government agencies and NGOs that better housing characteristics and social recognition are not worthy of risking one’s life by using irregular routes.

Chinese Migration to Ghana: Challenging the Orthodoxy on Characterizing Migrants and Reasons for Migration

While there is evidence that Chinese migration to Africa has increased in recent years, there is a generalpaucity of data on the total number of Chinese migrants living in African countries and their sociodemographiccharacteristics. The reasons for this situation include challenges associated with capturingimmigrants in Africa censuses, lack of robust sampling frames to draw representative samples fromimmigrant populations, high level of irregular migration, and weak migrants tracking systems. Relying onqualitative data and quantitative survey, based on an innovative sampling technique, this paper examines themigration of Chinese migrants to Ghana. The findings challenge simplistic narratives that present the Chinesemigrants as a homogenous group. Despite the general perception that Chinese migrants in Ghana areundocumented and lack higher education qualifications, our findings reveal that most Chinese migrants arehighly educated persons with legal documentation. While the existing literature focuses on economic pushand pull factors of migration to Ghana, the paper demonstrates the importance of social networks, economicpotentials and peaceful environment in driving migration to Ghana. Based on these findings, we stronglyrecommend the need for an informed narrative on Chinese migration to Africa by governments, media, andacademics to deal with the misconceptions and generalizations.

Implications of language barriers for access to healthcare: The case of francophone migrants in Ghana

Ghana has become home to many migrants from Francophone countries due to educational, professional, economic, and socio-political factors, among others. These factors also interact well with the country’s strategic location within the sub-region. As a result, migrants seek access to various public services including healthcare. However, language tends to be a barrier to their pursuit of quality healthcare. Based on the Communication Accommodation Theory (CAT) of Giles, the paper examines the implications of language barrier on Francophone migrants’ access to healthcare in Ghana and highlights how the migrant patients and health personnel perceive and deal with the barriers during consultations. The study uses qualitative methods, including key informant interviews and participant observation to gather data from three border towns and one referral hospital in the capital of Ghana. Findings reveal that health personnel and patients from francophone countries, when communicating during the health care process, demonstrate the use of convergence/accommodation and divergence/non-accommodation or divergence. On the whole, the practices and experiences that demonstrate convergence produce better health experiences and outcomes for both the patients and the health personnel while those that show divergence have a negative experience and outcome.

‘Climbing up a new ladder’—drivers and aspirations of Chinese new migrants in Ghana

ABSTRACT The rapid growth of Chinese migrants in Africa since the 1990s has sparked much academic research and debate. Drawing on qualitative data gathered between 2016-2019, this article aims to examine the relationships between the experiences of Chinese new migrants in Ghana and social changes in reform-era China. China’s state-led institutional reforms and market transition have significantly altered the social stratification order, opportunity structure, and individuals’ life chances. The macro-level drivers for new Chinese emigration to Africa can be attributed to two simultaneous processes: the political-economic expansion of China in the global economy versus uneven development and rising inequalities within China. Beyond the economic rewards, Africa offers a space for the new migrants to achieve upward mobility in the class hierarchy and flexibly shift their identity, which can be likened to an easier “ladder’ to climb up. This article contributes to the literature on migration drivers, diaspora-homeland relations, and contemporary migration in the Global South.

Inequalities and realities in migration: key urban challenges faced by internal migrants in Ghana

Inequalities and realities in migration: key urban challenges faced by internal migrants in Ghana

Children, language and access to schools in the global South: The case of migrants in Ghana

AbstractResearch on migrant children and young people has often focused on the global North and less on South–South migration. This article discusses language and its effect on how young migrants access Ghanaian schools. Through interviews with 68 pupils, 21 parents and 40 teachers and principals from 30 schools across Accra, we found that children and young people from francophone countries were placed in lower than age‐appropriate grades due to their lower command of English. Our study highlights the complex linguistic barriers facing migrant youth in an anglocentric educational system. The article discusses the relevance of our results in other postcolonial multilingual nations in the global South.

Gendered Strategies among Northern Migrants in Ghana: The Role of Social Networks

The migration trends from Northern to Southern Ghana is not a new phenomenon and it is rooted in historical antecedents. Migration scholars in Ghana have attributed these migration trends from an economic lens, arguing that migration has become a household strategy to diversify incomes. However, little research has focused on social networks serving as migration channels for migrants in the informal sector. In view of this, this paper explores the gendered strategies and social networks that the northern migrants use to gain access to the labour market. This study used a qualitative approach. Primary data was collected using the in-depth interview tool. A sampled population of 58 (37 women and 21 men) migrants from Northern Ghana to the Greater Accra Region (Madina), constituted the respondents. Findings indicate that integration and assimilation of migrants into their new community is a function of ethnicity. Strong and weak social ties facilitate migration differently. Whereas the former facilitates migration, the latter offers an enduring support for new migrants in searching for jobs and accommodation on arrival. The study concludes that knowledge of how social networks organize gender strategies within the migration continuum is important for policy intervention to close the poverty gap between North and South.

Social Networks and the Geographies of Young People’s Migration: Evidence from Independent Child Migration in Ghana

Social networks play an important role in shaping major aspects of migratory decisions and outcomes. Adopting an approach, which focused on both before and after stages of migration, this paper examines the value of social networks to the migration of young people by drawing on the experiences of independent child migrants in Ghana. In this paper, we argue that, prior to migration, social networks significantly shape children’s migration trajectories largely through information dissemination on potential destinations and therefore may partly explain the clustering of migrants in certain urban spaces. Besides, through provision of financial resources, such networks account for who migrates and stays put. After migration, social networks by serving as a channel of information flows, enhancing access to jobs and providing informal insurance cover shape major outcomes of young people’s migration. Successful socioeconomic integration of young migrants is a product of membership of village associations. However, social networks do not always engender positive livelihood outcomes due mainly to composition and reciprocity characterising interactions among network actors.

Perceptions of Neglect and Well-Being among Independent Child Migrants in Ghana

Independent child migrants (ICM) are children who choose to leave home and live independently of their parents or adult guardians. The literature and society in general often portray them as victims and abandoned children. This is because research on child neglect has not paid sufficient attention to the experiences of children in especially difficult circumstances. This paper has addressed that inadequacy: it has investigated the experiences and perception of parental neglect among ICM in Ghana and the relationship between these experiences and the children’s subjective well-being (happiness). The study used a cross-sectional concurrent mixed method design with children aged 12 to 17 years. The sample for the quantitative study included 156 children, while the qualitative investigation involved 14 children. The analysis comprised ordinal logistic regression, and hybrid thematic techniques for the quantitative and qualitative studies respectively. The results indicated that the decision to migrate often emerged through familial dialog. For the children, the decision was connected to their in-depth appreciation and experiences of family poverty and well-being. Correspondingly, despite the hardships the children faced, and their understanding of what neglect is, most of them did not feel neglected. Nonetheless, the majority of the ICM were not happy about the conditions of their lives. Unhappiness was mostly associated with greater perceived parental neglect. The paper argues that social protection policies to safeguard ICM and children alike from ‘risky’ conditions must consider the broader sociocultural, economic and familial conditions that shape their lives, livelihoods, and feelings of well-being.

Winter site use by Afro-Palearctic migrants in Ghana: site persistence and densities of Willow Warbler, Pied Flycatcher, Melodious Warbler and Common Redstart

Little is known about the variation within and among species of long-distance migrants in behavioural strategies and habitat choice on their non-breeding grounds. We report results from regular ringing operations carried out during the winter seasons 2009–2013 and transect counts in 2013, 2015 and 2016 in the Sudan Savanna Zone in Ghana. The best supported capture–mark–recapture model included species-specific probabilities of stay between within-season periods but no differences in resighting probability among species or sites. This model indicated that less than one-third of the Willow Warblers Phylloscopus trochilus and half of the Melodious Warblers Hippolais polyglotta stayed at wintering sites during more than 10 d, whereas for Pied Flycatcher Ficedula hypoleuca and Common Redstart Phoenicurus phoenicurus up to 90% stayed for more than 10 d, indicating itinerant wintering behaviour in the warblers and longer non-breeding residency in Pied Flycatcher and Common Redstart. Densities varied among years, but Pied Flycatchers were consistently most numerous in well-matured woodland habitat and Willow Warblers in disturbed habitat. Recaptures among years were too low for meaningful estimates of winter site fidelity, yet recurrence was recorded in three species. We speculate that habitat use is directly related to degree of territory defence and itinerancy.

Chinese entrepreneurial migrants in Ghana: socioeconomic impacts and Ghanaian trader attitudes

AbstractThis article explores attitudes of Ghanaian traders towards an increasing Chinese influx into Ghanaian trading spaces and the impacts of Chinese merchants on Ghanaian traders and trading spaces. Despite a late entrance of Chinese merchants into Ghanaian trading spaces relative to Lebanese, Indians and Nigerians, the abrupt change in size of the Chinese trading community along with its huge capital and cheap goods have had big impacts on local trading spaces. We maintain that relations between Ghanaian traders and Chinese counterparts may be roughly described as complementary, collaborative and competitive. While the Chinese impacts are seen as positive by some Ghanaian traders and landlords, they are negative for others. Yet, we argue that these relations are also nuanced and rooted in each Ghanaian trader's position amidst the Chinese presence. This article contributes to the literature on dynamics of South-to-South movements. It adds to growing studies on contemporary Chinese emigrations and accompanying impacts in host communities.

Multilingualism and language practices of Nigerien migrants in Ghana

ABSTRACTThis paper aims at examining language socialisation practices of members of two groups of migrants of Nigerien origin living in Ghana, i.e. Tamasheque-speaking beggars in Accra and Hausa/Zambarima/Buzu-speaking hawkers at the Akuapem Ridge. We examine the migrants’ language practices in various domains, such as work and home, interrogate whether such practices reflect the level of socioeconomic integration they experience and ascertain the role that members of the host communities play in their language socialisation. The Communities of Practice (CofP) framework, an ethnographic approach (which involves long-term observation and unstructured recorded interviews) is employed in the collection of data on the migrants’ language practices. However, two sets of data, from questionnaire surveys in Accra and the Akuapem Ridge, were collected to help describe these host communities’ language practices, which the migrants are expected to encounter. Batibo’s triglossic structure model was relied on in conducting those surveys and in interpreting the data. This study finds that there is strong correlation between a migrant group's socioeconomic integration and their sociolinguistic integration: while adult Tamasheque-speaking beggars are generally unable to learn any new languages in Ghana because they choose to remain marginalised, their children, who are the ones who beg and are the bread winners, as well as the hawkers, who sell wares roaming streets along the Ridge, typically get to learn at least Akan, the dominant local language of their host communities.

The perception of risk among unauthorized migrants in Ghana

In recent years, the number of unauthorized migrants trying to reach Europe by boat has increased. In an attempt to curtail this trend, European countries have increasingly deployed information campaigns regarding the risks involved in unauthorized migration. The assumption behind these campaigns is that a strong relation exists between the prevalence of high-risk migration and a lack of awareness of the involved dangers, and that the dissemination of ‘objective’ information would cause prospective migrants to refrain from leaving. Although regarded as a crucial tool in the management of migration, there is little evidence on their effectiveness. Based on four weeks of fieldwork in Ghana, this qualitative study has sought to fill this lacuna. By concentrating on both the circulation and perception of the available risk information in Ghana, this article explores the ways in which notions of risk affect the motivation and decision of unauthorized migrants to engage in high-risk behaviour. Thereby, it will be argued that unauthorized migrants are not the ignorant actors they are often portrayed to be, but that they make their decisions carefully and within a particular vulnerable, socioeconomic and cultural context.

Cross-Cultural Ties between Ghana and Egypt: The Agency of the Egyptian Community in Accra, Ghana

Ghana is recognized as an important destination of international migrants. In spite of the socio-economic and political upheavals that the country experienced during the early post-independence era leading to the (forced) return of several of its migrant groups, some have still remained and formed permanent communities and integrated into the Ghanaian society. This paper focuses on the Egyptian diaspora in Ghana. It examines: (1) the type of cross-border and transnational ties that Egyptian migrants in Ghana have established between Ghana and Egypt; (2) how these ties generate cross-cultural relations between Ghana and Egypt; and (3) the extent to which these ties provide a privileged economic and political position to the Egyptian community in Ghana. The work is based on the socio-cultural transnationalism theory. A socio-historical method was adopted for the research and apart from the analysis of historical data, eight key informants were interviewed. The paper shows that due to high-profile intermarriages between Ghanaians and Egyptians, coupled with the Nkrumah factor, the Egyptian community in Ghana occupies a privileged economic and political position in Ghana.

Migration as a Livelihood Strategy: The Case of Internal Migration in Ghana

Many households in Ghana experience high poverty levels and unreliable sources of income. As a strategy to reduce poverty level in Ghana, there are various decisions by individuals within the household to either migrate internally or engage in other activities that generate income. This study examines the use of internal migration as a livelihood strategy in Ghana using descriptive statistics and logit regression with data from the 2012/2013 Ghana Living Standards Survey (GLSS 6). In relation to most previous empirical studies, this study provides results consistent with the economic reasons for migration in Ghana. The probit regression estimates and the use of descriptive statistics support the diversification framework of livelihoods–where some internal migrants in Ghana take up multiple jobs as a means of obtaining multiple incomes. According to the findings, most migrants end up in the private informal sector at their destination places. Finally, in terms of regional distribution of internal migrants, households from the three northern regions are more likely to migrate. It is recommended that development policies of the government should be evenly distributed to ensure national development, irrespective of where one finds one’s self. Education should also be promoted to ensure that migrants have some form of learning in order to obtain employment in either the semi-formal or formal sector which requires a high level of skills.