Billions on Treatment, But What About Prevention?

Ghana spends billions of cedis treating chronic diseases like stroke, diabetes, asthma and hypertension.But what if one of the major triggers is something we rarely confront directly — the air we breathe?Michael Asharley speaks with reporter Kingsley E. Hope of the Ghanaian Times about his investigation into the growing disconnect between rising chronic illness and rising air pollution. He wrote a story that asks a difficult question: Are we investing far more in treatment than in prevention?The episode begins with Adiza, diagnosed with asthma and hypertension after years of exposure to polluted air. Her experience reflects a broader pattern doctors and environmental experts are increasingly concerned about. Yet Ghana has only a limited number of high-grade air quality monitors, and pollution is still not consistently framed as a central public health issue.Kingsley explains what surprised him most during his reporting, how officials responded when pressed about prevention, and why connecting the dots between pollution and disease remains so challenging.Clean Air Report Ghana is a collaboration between New Narratives and leading Ghanaian newsrooms. Funding is provided by the Clean Air Fund which had no say in the reporting.