MJAAR

Access To Healthcare For People With Disabilities: A Case Study Of Mulimira Zone, Bukoto I, Kampala

Walusimbi Joshua, Oumo Gideon


Abstract

Despite Uganda’s progressive legal and policy commitments to disability rights, persons with disabilities in many urban communities continue to face significant barriers to accessing healthcare. This study examined access to healthcare for persons with disabilities, using Mulimira Zone, Bukoto I, Kampala as a case study, guided by objectives establishing patterns of healthcare utilization, identifying physical, communication, attitudinal, and economic barriers, assessing health worker perceptions and practices, and exploring coping strategies. A descriptive cross-sectional mixed-methods design was adopted, drawing on a total population sample of 50 persons with disabilities/caregivers and 15 key informants, using structured questionnaires, in-depth interviews, a focus group discussion, and facility observation. Descriptive results showed high physical access barriers (mean = 3.40) and severe communication barriers among deaf respondents (mean = 4.56), alongside moderate-to-high economic barriers (mean = 3.44). All four barrier domains were significantly and negatively correlated with healthcare utilization, with economic barriers showing the strongest association (r = −0.641, p < 0.01). Regression analysis showed the four barrier domains jointly explained 57.1 percent of the variance in healthcare utilization (R² = 0.571), with economic barriers (β = −0.398) and physical barriers (β = −0.312) as the strongest significant predictors. Path analysis revealed that physical and communication barriers exert significant indirect effects on utilization through their influence on economic burden (β = 0.481 and 0.296 respectively), with a total effect of physical barriers on utilization of −0.503 compared to a direct effect of −0.312. The study concludes that healthcare access barriers for persons with disabilities in Mulimira Zone are multidimensional and interlinked, with physical and communication barriers compounding economic burden, and recommends facility infrastructure retrofitting, sign language interpretation services, disability-inclusive health worker training, targeted transport/cost subsidies, and strengthened community-based monitoring.

Keywords

Disability healthcare access health equity barriers to healthcare social model of disability path analysis Mulimira Zone Bukoto Kampala
Metropolitan Journal of Academic and Applied Research

Cite This Article

Walusimbi Joshua & Oumo Gideon (2026). Access To Healthcare For People With Disabilities: A Case Study Of Mulimira Zone, Bukoto I, Kampala. Metropolitan Journal of Academic and Applied Research, 5(9). https://journals.miu.ac.ug/pages/article.php?article_id=1864

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