Ghana Spends Billions Treating Chronic Diseases but Fails to Tackle the Air Pollution Causing Them

The science is clear: every breath of polluted air is an assault on the human body. Tiny particles in dirty air are so minute that they pass deep into the lungs and enter the bloodstream. Doctors say these particles can damage the heart, raise the risk of stroke and diabetes, and contribute to other chronic diseases.

Adiza Barikisu is on the front lines of the crisis. She has worked as a helping hand to a kenkey maker at Adum in Kumasi for 15 years, breathing fumes all day. Now 52, she has been diagnosed with asthma and hypertension.

“I never thought the air could make me this sick,” she says, holding an inhaler that emits medication and helps her breath. “But the doctor says it’s from all those years breathing bad air.” (Translated from Twi.)

Air pollution in Ghana is rising fast. The country’s average air pollution levels sit nearly six times above World Health Organisation’s safety limit. In Accra, air pollution is 11 times the recommendations. At the same time, cases of chronic diseases are also rising. A 2024 World Health Organisation and Ghana STEPS survey found out that they were responsible for 45 per cent of all deaths in Ghana.

Experts say the fact that air pollution and chronic diseases are rising together is no surprise— while diet, exercise, sleep and stress are all major factors in causing or worsening these illnesses, scientists have established a very clear link to air pollution. But so far, Ghana’s government is failing to make the connection.

Health experts have lauded the government’s GH¢2.3 billion commitment to treating chronic diseases through the new Mahama Cares medical fund–addressing conditions including stroke, hypertension, diabetes, asthma and kidney failure that traditionally place huge financial burdens on patients. But health experts warn that far less attention and funding are going to preventing the air pollution that helps cause those illnesses in the first place.

Research shows that reducing air pollution would save lives and money, with one analysis estimating that meeting World Health Organisation air-quality standards in Accra alone could prevent nearly 1,800 deaths each year and cut $247 million in healthcare costs in that city alone.

“The question we should be asking,” says Mr Desmond Appiah of the UK-based nonprofit the Clean Air Fund, “is why we’re waiting for people to get sick before we act? At these levels, every resident of Accra, Kumasi and other places faces elevated health risks.”

The 2025 State of Global Air Report ranked air pollution as Ghana’s second-leading risk factor for death, just behind high blood pressure. Approximately 32,000 Ghanaians die prematurely each year from pollution-related causes–roughly 87 preventable deaths every single day.

Doctors and healthcare workers across the country are raising an alarm.

“This isn’t speculation,” says Dr Sandra Owusu Kwarteng, a pulmonologist at Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital in Kumasi. She explains that chronic diseases–also called non-communicable diseases–are conditions like heart disease, diabetes, and asthma that develop over time and are not passed from person to person. “We’re seeing the burden of chronic diseases rising in both children and adults linked to high pollution levels. Hypertension and stroke contribute to disability and impact our workforce. For children, air pollution contributes to premature births across Africa including Ghana.”

And yet Ghana has not built those connections. According to Tony Goodman, the Ministry of Health’s Public Relations Officer, there is no specific amount of Mahama Cares funding directed toward air quality monitoring and disease prevention.

That is a major oversight according to experts. One reference grade monitor could cost about $40,000, according to Prof. Adeladza Kofi Amegah, an air pollution expert at the University of Cape Coast.

“If about 5 per cent of the Mahama Cares fund can be invested in air quality infrastructure, Ghana can move from basic monitoring to fully national health-integrated and policy driven system,” Prof. Adeladza Kofi Amegah stated.

While Ghana has implemented some good policies to curb growing air pollution in the last decade, experts say enforcement, monitoring and public education remain grossly inadequate. Dr Elvis Kyere Gyeabour of the Clean Air Fund, noted that Ghana has just four high-quality air pollution monitors–the gold standard in air quality control–but only three are functioning. All three are installed in the southern part of the country with none in the north.

Experts say monitoring air pollution is the first step in addressing the issue, citing the maxim ‘you can’t fight what you can’t see’. Without adequate monitoring, government agencies and communities cannot know the size and scope of the problem–essential to effective solutions.

“The science shows that reducing these tiny pollution particles doesn’t just improve health marginally–it prevents disease fundamentally,” says Dr Gyeabour. Without publicly available air pollution levels, communities also do not know how to protect themselves. When pollution reached hazardous levels in February 2024, for example, the Ghana Meteorological Agency advised the public to wear nose masks in public areas, avoid outdoor exercises, and close windows to avoid dirty outdoor air. At that time, Accra’s concentration was 40 times the World Health Organisation’s annual safe air quality guidelines.

The Environmental Protection Authority has a dashboard that provides public access to data from nine locations, but experts say this represents a fraction of the coverage needed for a nation of over 33 million people. The authority is mandated under the 2025 Environmental Protection Act to carry out environmental quality monitoring and prescribe environmental quality standards. The monitoring data serves critical functions: communicating air quality health risks, informing decision-making, developing air quality standards, and creating Air Quality Management Plans involving the Ministry of Health and Ghana Health Service.

According to Selina Amoah, Environmental Quality Head of the Environmental Protection Authority, the high cost of equipment, spare parts and consumables, combined with import requirements causing delays and high freight charges, hampers expansion of monitoring. Low-cost sensors have multiple problems.

“There are issues of data transmission with some low-cost sensors. The low-cost sensors are not too accurate in monitoring air quality and are, therefore, not used for regulatory purposes”, she says. Amoah notes that required improvements include acquiring comprehensive monitoring equipment to expand coverage.

Experts point to other countries which have successful connected air pollution to health outcomes. In Rwanda, the government established an integrated environmental and health monitoring system in 2018. The system connects air quality data from the capital, Kigali, directly to the Ministry of Health’s disease surveillance system. When pollution levels spike, health officials can track increases in respiratory illnesses and issue public warnings.

In Mexico City, since the 1990s comprehensive monitoring feeds real-time data directly to health authorities. When pollution spikes, health advisories are immediately issued, vehicle use restricted, and the worst polluters temporarily shut down. Studies documented significant reductions in hospital admissions for respiratory and cardiovascular emergencies.

“The key insight is that these countries recognised air quality monitoring as health infrastructure, not just environmental compliance,” Mr Appiah notes, adding that, “They built institutional bridges between environment and health ministries because they understood that preventing disease requires knowing what’s causing it.”

“Clean air is supposed to take us away from acquiring chronic diseases,” Mr Appiah says. “If we ignore the monitors, we ignore the warning signs. Prevention is not optional–it is the nation’s lifeline,” he indicates.

This story was a collaboration with new narratives as part of the Clean Air Reporting Project. Funding was provided by the Clean Air Fund. The funder had no say in the story’s content.

By Ghanaian Times.