Bicycles are one of the cleanest and most affordable ways to travel in Ghana, but for many cyclists, the roads remain dangerously unsafe. Without dedicated bike lanes and cycling infrastructure, riders face daily risks from traffic and pollution. Investing in safer cycling routes could protect lives, improve public health, and support a greener future. Mark…
By Mark Kwasi Ahumah Smith Summary Five years ago, Muniru Ibrahim was getting ready to leave for work in Wa when his phone rang. A woman he did not know was on the line. She had alarming news. Ibrahim’s 12-year-old son, Sadat, had been knocked off his bicycle on a stretch of road in Wa…
By Caleb Ahinakwah For decades, development money in Africa has arrived with its own instructions: what to fix, how to fix it, and who should do the work. Now a small but growing movement is asking a different question: what if the people receiving the money wrote the brief? A community in Zambia, Nyankanga, had…
By Caleb Ahinakwah Africa must take greater control of its development agenda, resources and decision-making processes, speakers at a major development convening in Accra have said. The call was made at the three-day Africa at the Centre: Leading Change, Shifting Power convening, which opened in Accra on Tuesday. The event has brought together more than…
By Joyce Gyekye For years, communities across Africa have been treated as recipients of aid rather than as the people who should determine what development looks like. Now, a coalition of civil society organizations from across the continent is coming together to change that. Two hundred organizations gathered this week in Accra, Ghana, to confront…
BY Prince Owusu Asiedu Life for residents and workers along the Adentan–Dodowa Road was upended in 2024. A routine upgrade scheduled to take three long years has left the community covered in dust and harmful pollutants putting thousands of lives here at risk. The project stalled early on and now experts say the failure to…
BY KINGSLEY E. HOPE Every weekday morning in Ghana’s largest cities, the same ritual unfolds: even before the sun has risen, one side of the motorway fills as commuters, who live mostly on the outskirts of the cities, pile into vehicles that crawl toward ministries, hospitals, universities, courts and commercial centres clustered in the city’s…
By Caleb Ahinakwah A comparison of air quality between the informal settlement of Nima and the wealthier community of Cantonments shows that in Accra, clean air is not shared equally — it follows the same pattern as much else in Ghana, where income and address determine quality of life. It is not yet 7 am…
By Joyce Gyekye Summary: TEMA, Greater Accra Region — In this community and others around it, a threat that cannot be seen is quietly harming adults and children. E-waste and battery recycling operations are a growing industry in West Africa as the region becomes a dumping ground for waste products from Europe and the United States….
Health experts in Ghana have raised serious concerns after research revealed that seven out of ten women reportedly take antibiotics every month. They warn that this widespread practice could accelerate antimicrobial resistance, making common infections harder to treat and posing catastrophic risks to public health if urgent action is not taken. This story was a…
Similar findings in an investigation in Liberia suggests the practice may be happening across the West Africa By Jennifer Ambolley in collaboration with New Narratives Summary: ● More than seven in 10 women surveyed by The Chronicle in Greater Accra said they take antibiotics every month, in the mistaken belief the drugs “clean” their bodies after menstruation…
Every morning, shortly before eight o’clock, Mma Teni spreads a rubber sheet on the ground at the entrance to the Bolgatanga new market. She tips out a heavy sack of second-hand clothes, and a cloud of plastic particles rises into the air to mix with diesel fumes and smoke from charcoal fires. As she settles…
By Wonder Ami Hagan with New Narratives For twelve years Philip Quansah drove a trotro through Accra’s traffic, breathing in whatever came through the window. He didn’t think much of the catarrh (sinus congestion), the coughs, the headaches. They were just part of the job. Six months ago, he had the chance to switch to driving an…
By Mark Kwasi Ahumah Smith in Bolgatanga Summary Every morning, shortly before eight o’clock, Mma Teni spreads a rubber sheet on the ground at the entrance here to the Bolgatanga new market. She places a stone at each corner to hold it flat, then tips out a heavy sack of second-hand clothes. A cloud of…
Did you know that every time a firefighter in northern Ghana runs into a burning home or a field engulfed in flames, he may be giving up a piece of his lungs to keep someone else alive? Picture a man standing in a cloud of smoke so thick it clings to his skin and sinks…
“Now I don’t inhale the smoke anymore,” Rahinatu says with a smile. “The ride is quieter, and I feel better.” Rahinatu is part of a small but growing shift in Bawku, where electric bikes are gradually changing how people experience their daily journeys. Mahmud Mohammed-Nurudeen reports in this social media Video. To read more about…
Curbing Environmental Pollution: Ghanaian farmers urged to desist from burning, adopt sustainable best practices – Evening News on Adom TV (21-06-26) This story was a collaboration with New Narratives, with funding from the Clean Air Fund. The donor had no say in the story’s content….
By Prince Owusu Asiedu Asutsuare (Shai Osudoku District) – Experts are raising urgent concerns over the widespread practice of burning crop waste and trees to clear farmlands across Ghana, warning that it is fueling a growing public health and environmental crisis. Burning just one kilogramme of crop residue produces smoke levels more than 100 times…
Margaret Awuni sits close to a heap of burning wood, her face masked by despair. Thick smoke curls around her as she coughs again and again as the wood burns down to charcoal that she then sells to workers here. Awuni, 48, has been doing this work since she lost her job as a trader…
By Mahmud Mohammed Nurudeen Every morning, Bukari Rahinatu used to ride through clouds of exhaust on her way to work in Ghana’s northeast town bordering Burkina Faso and Togo. The 25-year-old graduate from the University of Education, Winneba, says the smoke from fuel-powered motorbikes became part of daily life in the busy northern town. By…
BY ABIGAIL ANNOH Little Myles has been battling chronic asthma since he was two. Four years on, the boy lives with his single mother Bernice, here along the Pokuase-Nsawam highway. Long delayed road construction has shrouded the nearby communities for four years. That added to the area’s vehicle emissions and fumes from cooking and waste…
