The Air That’s Killing Us: Ghana in the Global Pollution Crisis

Air pollution is now the world’s second leading cause of early death — right behind high blood pressure. In 2023 alone, it claimed 7.9 million lives globally, including more than 32,000 in Ghana, where the average person is losing nearly nine months of life expectancy to dirty air.In this episode of Clean Air Report Ghana on Joy 99.7 FM, host Michael Asharley speaks with Dr. Pallavi Pant, Head of Global Initiatives at the Health Effects Institute, about the findings of the State of Global Air 2025 Report — a sobering look at how polluted air is quietly fueling heart disease, respiratory illness, and, for the first time, dementia.The conversation unpacks why Africa’s air-pollution burden keeps rising even as global awareness grows, how Ghana’s new Air Quality Management Regulations could help, and what lessons the continent can learn from countries that have successfully cleaned their air.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.