By Prince Owusu Asiedu Smoke from burning electronic waste at Agbogbloshie in Accra is filling the air with toxic chemicals, and researchers have long said the harmful effects are already getting into people’s bodies — making them sick and, in some cases, killing them. It has been nearly two decades since clear evidence of direct…
Ghana
Blinded by the Smoke: The price Ghana’s fish smokers are paying
By Wonder Ami Hagan In the doorway of her small roadside shop in James Town, Accra, Naomi Dowuo rests her chin in her hand, the blue sea sparkling in the sun behind her. The 70-year-old wears a purple tie-dye kaba, a colourful headwrap and thick-lensed eyeglasses, the kind a doctor prescribes. Only one of her…
Blinded by the Smoke: The price Ghana’s fish smokers are paying
In Ghana’s coastal communities, fish smoking provides a livelihood for thousands of women but exposes them to harmful smoke that can damage their eyesight. This report tells the story of 70-year-old Naomi Dowuo, who lost vision in one eye after decades of fish smoking, and examines the health risks, challenges, and efforts to promote safer…
Beyond Heart Health: The Surprising Power of Fresh Produce Against Air Pollution
BY ABIGAIL ANNOH KANESHIE, Accra – Gyamfua arrives at the footbridge here by 5:00 a.m. every day. Long rows of passenger’s board buses spewing black exhaust fumes into the air as she prepares her fruit stand. Throughout the day vehicles stream through the busy route. By sunset, thick layers of dust have settled on her…
Families live with hidden risks from lead as battery recycling pollutes the air
By JENNIFER AMBOLLEY ASHAIMAN, Accra — Salma Iddrisu sits beside her large pan here in the centre of the Ashaiman scrapyard, selling food to workers as the day’s activities go on around her. The 38-year-old has been doing this for the past six years. She arrives in the morning, sets up her food and can…
Families live with hidden risks from lead as battery recycling pollutes the air
In Ghana’s Ashaiman scrapyard, families are unknowingly facing serious health risks from lead pollution linked to informal battery recycling. Parents work and children spend time near sites where old batteries are broken open, releasing toxic lead dust and fumes into the air, soil, and food. Health experts warn that lead exposure can cause anemia, hearing…
On Ghana’s roads, bicycles are the cleanest way to travel but they are also the most dangerous
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…
On Ghana’s roads, bicycles are the cleanest way to travel but they are also the most dangerous
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…
Aid system is broken, African Civil Society leaders say; 200 gather in Accra to build a new Africa-Led model
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…
Africa must control its development agenda, resources and priorities – WACSI
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…
African Civil Society Groups Push to Take Control of Their Own Development
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…
Delayed construction projects creating air pollution and health risks for people across the country
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…
The commute that pollutes: How Ghana’s poor urban cities are sickening millions
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…
Air Pollution in Accra is not random; it is a burden carried by the poor
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…
Ghana’s silent poison: Three years after landmark survey found children being poisoned by lead, slow pace of reforms is putting more children at risk
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….
Seven In 10 Women Take Antibiotics Monthly, Experts Raise Alarm To Catastrophic Public Health Outcomes
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. Jennifer Ambolley reports in…
Seven In 10 Women Take Antibiotics Monthly, Experts Raise Alarm To Catastrophic Public Health Outcomes
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…
Ghana to spend Ghc8 billion on new 24-hour markets – but nothing to stop toxic air making traders sick.
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…
Smoke and Promises: Inside Ghana’s slow-moving electric bus revolution
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…
Ghana to spend Ghc8 billion on new 24-hour markets – but nothing to stop toxic air making traders sick.
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…
“Smoke in Their Lungs Ghana’s Firefighters Fight a Silent Battle”
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…