Cleaner air, healthier Ghana
Air pollution is no longer an abstract environmental concern. It is a growing public health threat, and Ghana can no longer afford to treat it as a problem that belongs somewhere else.
The warning from Associate Professor of Environmental and Nutritional Epidemiology at the University of Cape Coast (UCC), Prof. Kofi Amegah, should therefore receive serious attention from policymakers, city authorities and the public.
Prof. Amegah’s call for stronger measures to tackle air pollution is particularly important because it draws attention to a group that is often overlooked in public health discussions, street vendors and hawkers who spend long hours beside some of the busiest and most polluted roads in our cities.
The findings of the Dietary Intervention to Mitigate Air Pollution (DIMAP) research project provide useful evidence that antioxidant-rich foods can help reduce some of the respiratory and cardiovascular effects associated with prolonged exposure to polluted air.
That is encouraging. But it must not be misunderstood.
As Prof. Amegah rightly points out, good nutrition cannot substitute for effective air quality regulations and enforcement.
We cannot tell a street vendor who spends eight or 10 hours breathing exhaust fumes beside a busy road to simply eat more oranges, eggs or fish and consider the problem solved.
That would be putting the burden on the victim rather than addressing the source of the pollution.
The study found that antioxidant-rich foods could help the body cope with some of the harmful effects of air pollution.
Vendors were encouraged to consume foods such as oranges, vegetables, eggs, nuts, peanuts, healthy cooking oils, fatty fish and avocado.
Such dietary interventions are worthwhile and should be encouraged.
However, the evidence, as Prof. Amegah himself cautioned, is not overwhelming.
The stronger and more fundamental intervention must remain the reduction of exposure to polluted air in the first place.
This is where government and the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDAs) must act.
Ghana needs stronger air quality monitoring systems, proper enforcement of environmental regulations and sustained investment in pollution control.
It is not enough to have standards and regulations on paper. The real test is whether they are enforced and whether offenders face consequences.
The problem also exposes a deeper challenge with roadside trading.
Many street vendors do not choose the roadside because they enjoy working in hazardous conditions.
They are there because they need to earn a living. The appeal by founding member of the Traffic Hawkers Association, Lina Nyarko, deserves serious consideration.
If vendors are to leave the streets, government must provide realistic alternatives. Vocational training, access to small capital and support for alternative livelihoods could give willing hawkers a genuine pathway out of roadside trading.
This is better than simply chasing them from the streets without addressing the economic circumstances that brought them there.
The Ghanaian Times is of the view that the solution must combine effective environmental regulation, public health education and economic empowerment.
The experience of Felicia Mawuli, a plantain chips seller in the Airport area and a beneficiary of the six-month intervention, shows that targeted support can make a difference.
Participants received weekly supplies of oranges, eggs, sardines, groundnuts and cooking oil, together with regular health assessments. She reported an improvement in her health.
Such interventions are valuable, but they should complement — not replace — broader action against air pollution.
Government must now treat clean air as a public health priority. MMDAs should be adequately resourced to monitor air quality, identify pollution hotspots and enforce relevant regulations.
Greater attention must also be paid to vehicle emissions, open burning, dust and other major sources of urban air pollution.
At the same time, citizens have a responsibility to protect themselves where possible. Vendors should use appropriate face masks when necessary, adopt healthier diets and follow public health advice.
But individual responsibility cannot absolve the state of its duty to provide a safe environment.
Ghana cannot afford to normalise a situation in which earning a living means exposing oneself to unhealthy air for hours every day.
The message from the DIMAP research is clear: nutrition can help, but prevention must begin with cleaner air.
The government must therefore move beyond occasional campaigns and make air pollution control a sustained national priority.
The health of thousands of workers and indeed the wider population depends on it.
Clean air is not a luxury. It is a basic condition for a healthy and productive nation. Ghana must act before the silent cost of polluted air becomes even more difficult to reverse.
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