Accra's Traffic and Trash Issues

By Samantha Malone, MPH, CPH

While I have found many beautiful and wondrous things during the first week of my visit to Accra, Ghana, I am also troubled by a few of the city's public health issues.

Traffic and Air Quality

There are only a few major roads to serve all of the people who use vehicles in the city of Accra. This results in massive delays and air pollution. We were told by one of our hosts from Accra that there are times when the traffic is so horrendous that he simply shuts off his car and goes shopping in a nearby market.

Festivals and Funeral in Ghana

Lecture given by Dr. Kofi Agyekum, head of the Linguistics Department at the University of Ghana, Legon.




This is an audio recording of a lecture by Dr. Kofi Agyekum, University of Ghana. Dr. Agyekum is an expert in the Akan language. Some of the interesting portions of this lecture include a description of the afterlife within Ghana: Ghanaians from all ethnicities view the afterlife as a reflection of this world. This kind of afterlife is held by most West Africans as well as continental Africans.

Such trans-continental beliefs suggest to me the possibility that there was much inter-ethnic dialogue throughout the continent of Africa long before recent times, and most likely long before colonial trading influences as Susan McIntosh also asserts in her essay on the Prehistory of West Africa, contained within the excellent book Themes in West African History. She states that such a suggestion is in contrast to many of the historical narratives which claim that there was no trading or movement of people from West Africa to Central and Eastern Africa until the Arab trades came in the begining of the Second Millenium C.E.

Overview of Biodiversity in Ghana: Fuana

This is an audio recording of a lecture by Dr. Ofori Danson of the University of Ghana. Dr. Danson covers the biodiversity of Ghana, focusing on endemic species and species of concern. It is approximately an hour long.


Download here:
http://www.archive.org/download/OverviewOfBiodiversityInGhanaFuana/Overview-Biodiversity-lecture-Part-1-Ofori-Danson-080104-000.mp2

Professor P.K. Ofori-Danson is a professor of the Dept. of Oceanography and Fisheries at the University of Ghana; part of UNDP-FAO Fisheries; current advisor to the Bui Power Authority (A Hydroelectric Dam project); U.N. University network on water and health; National Biodiversity Committee

Dr. Ofori-Danson began his lecture by defining biodiversity; the U.N. Council on Biodiversity defines biodiversity as the “library of life” and that the knowledge contained within this operating library is essential for our survival since ultimately we depend on the functions and relations of the species in our ecosystems, not the factory that fries our potato chips. Biodiversity is the insurance policy we have for food, for medicine, for the ecological benefits such as pest control, and of course the aesthetic and cultural benefits are often an overlooked as a necessity, but although Dr. Ofori-Danson did not mention this, I feel it needs to be reminded that the latter should not be reserved as a luxury for rich ecotourists.