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Eradicating Disease in Ghana Through Vaccine Access

disease in Ghana
The continent of Africa has many countries that have struggled for decades with deadly diseases. High poverty rates and little access to clean water have made it difficult for people to stop the spread of these diseases or access vaccinations.

In sub-Saharan Africa, one in 11 children dies before the age of five because of diseases like pneumonia and malaria. Ghana is one country that is fighting for access to vaccinations. The hope is to someday eradicate disease in Ghana, and with the help of many organizations, Ghana is proving that this can be possible.

Although Africa is considered the poorest continent on Earth, Ghana’s poverty rate was cut in half from 1991 to 2012. This growth has paved the way for better access to extremely important healthcare and vaccinations for men, women and children.

Introduction of New Vaccines Lessens Threat of Disease in Ghana

In 2012, Ghana became the first African country to make the pneumococcal and rotavirus vaccines available. This is a giant step, as these vaccines will protect against two of the biggest killers in Ghana, pneumonia and diarrhea. UNICEF, along with Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, have worked alongside and supported the Ghana Health Service in this launch, which made these vaccinations available in every health clinic in the country.

Although it is unusual to make two vaccines available simultaneously, the country has recognized the dire need for these treatments. Pneumonia is the deadliest disease in Africa and the leading cause of death of children on the continent. The sickness claims nearly 800,000 lives each year.

Ghana One of Three Countries to Test Malaria Vaccine

Along with being the first country in Africa to launch the aforementioned vaccines, Ghana will once again be making history later in 2018. The World Health Organization has selected Ghana, along with Kenya and Malawi, to be the testing sites for the world’s first malaria vaccine pilot. With about half of the world’s population at risk for this disease, this vaccine, along with the means of prevention that are already used, could save hundreds of thousands of lives.

In 2015 alone, there were nearly 215 million cases of malaria around the world. The malaria pilot program is being funded by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, the World Health Organization and many others. The first stage will cost nearly $50 million, but with the thousands of lives this vaccine could save, money is no object.

The fight to eradicate disease in Ghana is seeing incredible progress. Ghana is becoming a country that everyone, not just in Africa but all over the world, can look to when it comes to providing the healthcare and medications that so many are in need of.

Long known as a country that has struggled with poverty and a lack of resources, Ghana has shown that it is possible for any country to treat and prevent diseases on a national level. Ghana has and will continue to make these huge changes for its people.

– Allisa Rumreich
Photo: Flickr

Combating Poverty with the Ghana Social Opportunities Project

Ghana Social Opportunities ProjectDuring the past two decades, sustained and inclusive economic growth has enabled Ghana to reduce the number of its citizens living in poverty by half, from 52.6 percent to 21.4 percent, and this number is continuing to drop. Although there is much to celebrate about the recent reduction of those living in poverty, there are still a number of people, primarily in rural areas, that are living in poverty. The Ghana Social Opportunities Project is an initiative headed by the World Bank with the goal of alleviating poverty in these rural areas.

The project is focused on supporting the creation of social protection policy and increasing participation in the Labor Intensive Public Works and the Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty programs, among other social protection initiatives.

Labor Intensive Public Works Programs

Labor Intensive Public Works programs, a major component of the Ghana Social Opportunities Project, is a social protection tool often used by governments in developing countries to reduce unemployment and alleviate overall poverty.

The programs seek to employ people for physical infrastructure projects using local labor and raw materials. By using local labor instead of machinery for infrastructure projects, more jobs are created and thus more people are employed and earning money to provide for their family.

The successes in Ghanaian communities where Labor Intensive Public Works Programs are at work are evident, as the percentage of people living in poverty has decreased significantly.

Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty Programs

Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty programs, better known as LEAP programs, are another major component of the Ghana Social Opportunities Project.

First launched in 2008, LEAP programs were adopted by Ghana’s government with the help of the World Bank. The programs aim to alleviate short-term poverty while encouraging long-term human capital development. LEAP programs provide cash and health insurance to poor households across the country. Currently, there are 90,785 households that are being paid through LEAP programs.

Additionally, LEAP is set to launch a new initiative this month called LEAP 1000. This initiative targets extremely poor households and is concentrated in Ghana’s northern and upper east regions.

LEAP programs are one way the government is working with international aid organizations to solve issues of poverty on a localized, household level. Because of the cash benefits LEAP communities receive, many communities are experiencing a turnaround and poverty reduction in rural areas is catching up to the rest of the country.

Continued Growth

The distribution of wealth, particularly between rural and urban areas, is the main focus for many developing countries. Much of Ghana’s economic growth has come from the migration of people to Ghana’s cities. Opportunities exist in urban areas that usually do not exist in rural areas; this is one reason for the unequal distribution of wealth among Ghana’s population.

Because Ghana has recently benefited from prolonged growth for a long period of time, the country’s challenge is distributing this growth among its entire population. This can be achieved through infrastructure transformation, the emergence of a more specialized and skilled labor force and an increase in Ghana’s geographically mobility. By continuing to focus on these areas, Ghana can ensure that this development will keep expanding and benefit all of its citizens.

– Sonja Flancher

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

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Shelter For Education Program Builds Schools in Ghana

Shelter For Education Program Building Schools in Ghana

Nearly a quarter of Ghana’s population is still living below the poverty line. However, education and socioeconomic mobility are vital to the country’s young people. Fortunately, school enrollment is on the rise and, thanks to the telecom group Tigo Ghana, willing students will have more classroom resources.

Tigo recently built a six-classroom addition to Obeng Yaw Basic School, the first of six anticipated construction and restoration projects the company will conduct for schools in impoverished regions of the country. These efforts come as part of Tigo’s new corporate social responsibility initiative, Shelter For Education.

Under the initiative, Tigo has committed to constructing four and refurbishing two six-unit classroom buildings for six different selected communities. Each of these schools in Ghana will also be equipped with a headmaster’s office, a pantry and a staff common room. Shelter For Education will also provide pupils from the selected schools with books and school uniforms.

The program focuses on rural areas particularly, working to provide classrooms to students otherwise forced to sit under trees through harsh weather conditions in order to attend school.

The old environment, understandably non-conducive to learning, will hopefully be remedied by Tigo’s Shelter For Education efforts.

Tigo certainly believes it will, stating, “This project will go a long way to better the lives of these vulnerable children. These kids will be motivated to go to school, stay in the classroom when there are rains and lastly improve their educational background.”

Shelter For Education has drawn a strong backing. This includes Nana Obeng Yaw II, Chief of Adeiso, where the first construction project took place. The chief promised to maintain the new building, hoping to ensure a lasting benefit to the village’s children. He will have Tigo’s support once again, according to Gifty Bingley, head of Corporate Communications for Tigo Ghana.

The schools in Ghana selected for Shelter For Education improvements are St. Joseph Primary School in Obuasi, Dimabi Nursery and Primary School in Tolon Kumbumgu of the Northern Region, Ejura Sekyere-Dumase MA School, Tupaa Basic School in Ga South of the Greater Accra Region and Banda Ahenkro MA School in Banda Ahenkro of the Brong Ahafo Region.

The World Bank calls education “one of the most powerful instruments for reducing poverty and inequality and lays a foundation for sustained economic growth.”

Tigo Ghana’s CEO, Roshi Motman agrees: “Education is key in building a great nation and for Tigo, we want to contribute in shaping the lives of these children who in future will help build Ghana.”

– Emma-Claire LaSaine

Sources: Biztech Africa, Tigo, allAfrica, World Bank
Photo: Biztech Africa

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Poverty in Ghana

Ghana

Once hailed as a rising star by the World Bank, Ghana has experienced significant macroeconomic challenges during the past five years that have severely undermined its social stability and resulted in fluctuating poverty levels. In 2022, the country’s inflation rate reached a record high of 54%, contributing to high public debt levels – nearly 90% of the GDP – and pushing millions into poverty. Although Ghana today has made strides in restoring stability and catalyzing growth, the pressure of high inflation has worsened poverty levels throughout the country, particularly in rural areas. State restructuring programs and humanitarian aid are both vital to providing poverty alleviation and ensuring a road of recovery for not only those suffering from poverty but for the country as a whole.   

Rural Poverty: Smallholder Farmers and Women

As of 2023, around 2.99 million Ghanaians were living in extreme poverty. Out of this number, an overwhelming 2.3 million were located in rural regions, constituting a majority of the multidimensionally poor. 

  1. Rural smallholder farmers, who produce 95% of the country’s crops, are among the poorest socioeconomic groups in Ghana. Most of these farmers reside in the northern region of Ghana and do not have access to the same infrastructure and services as urban southerners, despite being heavily dependent on agricultural yields for food security. A lack of land ownership rights also undermines the average farmer’s ability to invest in land improvements and farm expansion. Lastly, external factors such as climate change disrupt northern Ghana’s predominant practice of rain-fed agriculture, contributing to large post-harvest losses and limited food production.

Led by an unsustainable agricultural sector, northern Ghana is disparately faced with the proliferating burden of hunger and malnutrition. According to the World Food Programme, northern Ghana had the highest prevalence of food insecurity in 2020 in comparison to the other regions.  Today, chronic malnutrition and stunted growth among children under 5 affects approximately 33% to 40% of the North, despite the rest of the country reporting less than 20%. As high as 82% of North Ghanaian children are estimated to be anemic – despite the overall average being 60% across all of Ghana. 

  1. Women and girls in rural Ghana are more likely to suffer from poverty than their urban counterparts due to a lack of essential resources and opportunities. As a result of little to no formal sex education, 18% of girls in rural areas are teenage mothers as opposed to 11% in urban. Overall, girls in rural Ghana have less access to education due to social norms and traditions. Many do not complete primary or secondary education. 

Despite state efforts to strengthen women’s opportunities in the labor market, Ghanaian women still face disadvantages in comparison to men. According to the World Bank, 77% of women in 2022 were reported as occupying vulnerable jobs as opposed to 58% of men. Women are typically self-employed in the agricultural sector to maintain childcare and other domestic roles, resulting in low wages and financial exclusion.

Women and girls in rural Ghana are also subject to period poverty and lack access to affordable menstrual products. A recent increase in the state tax on feminine hygiene products has made them largely unavailable to women, especially those of lower income. In 2023, BBC reported that 13.2% of the Ghanaian minimum wage was necessary to purchase two packs of cheap sanitary pads. Per this report, Ghana has the most expensive feminine hygiene products relative to monthly income.   

Current Developments

Despite substantial economic shocks, Ghana is currently attempting to restabilize by implementing programs that target state restructuring and human development. As one of the largest gold producers in the world, Ghana has increased output from the Edikan, Chirano and Obuasi mines by an estimated 9.9% in 2023. Aiming to boost oil and gas production, the country has also sold more exploration rights to generate revenue to fund its energy transition and acquire valuable investors.  The challenge is to make sure that the wealth generated from these industries trickles down to every Ghanaian, especially to those in rural areas.

Another important method of eradicating poverty in Ghana is adopting a broad-based human development strategy to  keep Ghana on track for improving the quality and access of food across the country, for all age demographics. Organizations such as the World Food Programme (WFP) are currently working with the Ghanaian government to reduce malnutrition and improve existing food systems by adopting food and nutrition programs involving both public and private sectors. In 2023, a collaborative project between the WFP, the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the United Nations (UN) called the USAID Farmer Support Activity provided cash transfers and agricultural training valued at $7 million to 17,000 vulnerable smallholder farmers during the lean season in Ghana. In the Ashanti Region, the WFP provided 39 health workers and 44 School Health Education Programme (SHEP) teachers with basic training on malnutrition prevention, promoting balanced diets and increasing micronutrient access. Outside of organizations, state policies such as providing microcredits and financing to small businesses may serve to boost agricultural yields and improve food security for rural populations.

Looking Ahead

Over time, the development of the gold and oil industries should translate to better infrastructure and more jobs for the average Ghanaian, as well as those in rural areas. Furthermore, ongoing efforts to promote women’s empowerment and representation by groups such as UN Women Ghana should motivate more women to become leaders and entrepreneurs, championing female representation across the country. Despite these advancements, Ghana is in great need of addressing other motivators for poverty – including climate change, environmental protection, and sanitation management. Although many challenges may currently take precedence over human development, Ghana may only be able to resolve both external and internal disparities by tackling policies to eradicate extreme poverty in Ghana once and for all.

– Maria Caluag, Moon Jung Kim 

Photo: Flickr