Gendered Challenges of Adults in Accessing Healthcare in Uganda

This study sought to understand the challenges of older refugee men and women –aged 60 years and above in accessing health care services (HCS) in Uganda. Specifically the study set out to establish which health care services were available to older adult refugees living in the low resourced communities such as slums in Kampala; assess the extent to which health care services were accessible to older adult refugee men and women; and establish the challenges older adult men and women refugees faced as they sought to access HCS.The study was anchored on two theories: the first was Capability Theory drawn from the Neoclassical Economic Theory proposed by Sen Amartya in the year 1973 and the second was the Feminist Standpoint Theory by Sandra Harding. In the capability theory human beings are conceptualized as autonomous rational decision makers and free from social power imbalances. The feminist theory on the other hand positions knowledge and the knower within a social context. This study presupposed that the health care services are inclusive and so anybody regardless of his or her age and status can gain access.