The World Bank’s country director for Ghana, Pierre Laporte, on Friday said the bank will support Ghana in eliminating air pollution to curb the effect on public health, reported CGTN Africa.
Laporte made the announcement during a meeting on findings of a field study over air pollution in Ghana.
According to the study, 100 percent of Ghanaians were exposed to air pollution levels exceeding the World Health Organization guidelines. The actions taken by the government to reduce air pollution have been quite slow.
“Accurately measuring air quality is key to effective responses. However, there is a severe dearth of reliable ground-level air quality measurements,” Laporte said.
The study found that air pollution causes about 16,000 premature deaths annually in the country. Of the 16,000 premature annual deaths, 8,500 deaths took place in urban areas, while 7,600 occurred in rural areas in 2020.
The air pollution mortality rate including outdoor air pollution and indoor air pollution is 105 people per 100,000 of the population, with an approximate 66 percent of related deaths in rural areas of Ghana due to household or near-home air pollution.
Laporte said dramatic and systematic changes are required to tackle the air pollution issue in the country and that will involve the active participation of an informed public including youths, civil society groups, and media.
He said that the World Bank is already working with Ghana’s Environmental Protection Agency to implement the Ghana pollution management and environmental health project that addresses ambient air pollution in the country.
The World Bank official said the collaboration has helped Ghana to tackle air pollution and supported the development of a full-scale Air Quality Management Plan for the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area.
He added the two agencies are also working to develop a full-scale air quality management plan for Ghana’s capital, Accra.
