It’s quite common for commuters in many cities and towns in Ghana to inhale smoke from largely rickety vehicles that ply the country’s roads.
With more cars in the national capital, Accra, the city is known for allowing all kinds of rickety cars on the road, posing health risk to commuters and pedestrians who are forced to inhale smoke on a daily basis.
This affects the over four million people who live in the capital.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), about 2,000 people in Accra die yearly due to air pollution, and vehicle emissions contribute to this.
A poor public transportation system, population surge and rapid urbanization have undoubtedly worsened the problem.
Over 70 per cent of people in Accra rely on cars and motorbikes, and many grapple with heavy vehicular congestion on a daily basis for hours, thereby exposing them to greater harm as many of these cars emit smoke freely without any caution from road safety authorities.
With Ghana’s pollution considered as critical, the World Health Organization has called for urgent steps such as the use of electric cars among others to save more lives, as well as the millions of dollars used to treat air pollution-related diseases.
