Shows
Clean Air Report GhanaWomen, Charcoal and the Cost of SurvivalIn Sokoban, a suburb of Kumasi, the air hangs heavy with smoke. Not from traffic. Not from harmattan. But from burning wood — the backbone of a charcoal trade that feeds families while quietly damaging lungs.In this episode, host Michael Asharley sits down with Asaase Radio reporter Lordina Agyemang to unpack her powerful story on the women at the heart of Ghana’s informal charcoal industry. Women like Margaret Awuni, diagnosed with chronic bronchitis after years of tending smoky kilns. When her doctor asked if she smoked marijuana, she laughed. Her only habit was burning charcoal to surv...
2026-02-2417 minClean Air Report GhanaMaking Air Pollution VisibleAir pollution is often described in numbers — PM2.5 levels, emission rates, regulatory limits. But what happens when the evidence is not a chart, but a photograph?In this episode of Clean Air Report Ghana, host Michael Asharley explores how images are being used to document and expose air pollution across Ghana. His guests are veteran photojournalist David Andoh, who has spent more than 15 years capturing the country’s environmental realities, and rising photographer Judy Yayra Avanu, who is beginning to tell those stories through her own lens.From open burning and traffic fumes to food vend...
2026-02-2314 minClean Air Report GhanaTracking Accra’s Air: Lessons from 20 Years of DataWhat can nearly twenty years of air quality data tell us about the city we live in today? In this episode of Clean Air Report Ghana, host Michael Asharley looks back at some of the earliest detailed measurements of air pollution in Accra — and what they reveal about how the city’s air has changed over time.Michael is joined by Raphael Arku, an Associate Professor of Environmental Health Sciences at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, whose research has tracked particle pollution in Accra since the early 2000s. Their conversation breaks down where pollution comes from, how scie...
2026-02-0227 minClean Air Report GhanaReporting for Clean Air: Ghanaian Journalists Learn to Better Cover the Air We BreatheWhat does it take to report air pollution responsibly in Ghana, and whose voices should shape the story? In this episode of Clean Air Report Ghana, host Michael Asharley takes listeners inside a three-day workshop in Accra where journalists from across Ghana compared notes, challenged assumptions, and strengthened their reporting.The episode features insights from Prof. Reginald Quansah, who underscores the often overlooked danger of household air pollution, particularly for women and children. It also includes perspectives from Desmond Appiah of the Clean Air Fund, and Hamza Bawa Mahama of People’s Dialogue on Human Set...
2026-01-2623 minClean Air Report GhanaPoisoned Journeys: The Harmful Air In Ghana’s Long-Distance BusesLong-distance buses keep Ghana moving, but what happens to the air passengers breathe during hours-long journeys is rarely questioned. In this episode of Clean Air Report Ghana, host Michael Asharley looks inside Ghana’s long-distance buses to examine a largely overlooked public health risk: the quality of air circulating inside enclosed vehicles.The episode features journalist Mark Kwasi Ahumah Smith of A1 Radio, whose reporting traces how dust, mould, and poor ventilation can turn routine travel into a health hazard. Beginning with a passenger’s alarming experience, the investigation expands into a wider national gap where indoor tran...
2026-01-1919 minClean Air Report GhanaDid Ghana’s Emissions Levy Work?In December 2023, Ghana introduced an emissions levy meant to make polluters pay and, ultimately, make the air cleaner. By February 2024 it was in force. By 2025, it was gone.In this episode of Clean Air Report Ghana, host Michael Asharley asks a simple but uncomfortable question: did the policy ever have a chance to work?Drawing on nearly 25 years of air quality data, the episode features Daniel Westervelt, an atmospheric scientist at Columbia University, whose research examines whether Ghana’s short-lived emissions levy had any measurable impact on pollution levels, particularly PM2.5. The analysis was conducted as...
2026-01-1224 minClean Air Report GhanaBreathing Inequality: When Clean Air Is a LuxuryAir pollution is often described as an environmental problem. In reality, it is a poverty problem.This episode of Clean Air Report Ghana examines how dirty air in Accra is punishing those with the least power to escape it. From informal markets to densely populated neighbourhoods near traffic and waste sites, poorer communities are breathing the worst air — despite contributing the least to the pollution around them.Host, Michael Asharley is joined by journalist Jennifer Ambolley, whose recent reporting follows traders, women, and families facing chronic illness, lost income, and rising medical costs linked directly to...
2025-12-2914 minClean Air Report GhanaThe African Air Quality School: Building Clean Air Champions Across AfricaClean air advocacy in Africa is taking shape in lecture halls, laboratories, and everyday conversations far beyond policy spaces. In this episode of Clean Air Report Ghana, Michael Asharley takes listeners to Kumasi for an inside look at the African School on Air Quality and Pollution Prevention hosted at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology.The episode features voices from Kenya, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Cameroon, and Ghana, as participants share how the intensive training has deepened their understanding of air pollution, public health, and environmental responsibility. From monitoring and data analysis to communication...
2025-12-2213 minClean Air Report GhanaPollution, Mapped: What the Numbers Reveal About Accra’s AirAcross 13 municipal assemblies in Accra, detailed air quality monitoring has exposed hidden pollution hotspots, linking everyday activities to serious health risks.Host, Michael Asharley, speaks with Dr. Joseph Ayitio, Managing Director of PSS Urbania, about how measuring pollutants like PM₂.₅, PM₁₀, and sulphur dioxide is changing planning, enforcement, and public awareness. As data makes the invisible visible, the episode asks a crucial question: now that we know where the problem is, will action follow?Clean Air Report Ghana is a collaboration between New Narratives and leading Ghanaian newsrooms. Funding is provided by the Clean Air...
2025-12-1623 minClean Air Report GhanaFrom Guesswork to Evidence: Accra’s Air Quality Finally MeasuredAccra is getting something it has never had before: a clear, real-time picture of the air its residents breathe. In just two years, the Breathe Accra programme — part of the global Breathe Cities Initiative backed by Bloomberg Philanthropies, C40, and the Clean Air Fund — has deployed more than 100 air-quality sensors across the city, creating the most detailed pollution map in Ghana’s history.Michael Asharley sits down with Dr. Elvis Gyeabuor, Portfolio Manager for Breathe Accra, to explore how this initiative is transforming Accra’s approach to clean air. They discuss why Accra was chosen, the partnerships driving...
2025-12-0219 minClean Air Report GhanaThe Air That’s Killing Us: Ghana in the Global Pollution CrisisAir 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, f...
2025-11-3021 minClean Air Report GhanaShining a Light on Ghana’s Pollution Problem and Solutions: Albert Oppong AnsahAward-winning journalist Albert Oppong Ansah joins host Michael Asharley to share how powerful storytelling can help Ghana breathe cleaner air.In this episode of Clean Air Report Ghana, Albert — a reporter with the Ghana News Agency and a New Narratives Clean Air Fellow — reflects on his recent win as Best in News Reporting (Online) at the 29th Ghana Journalists Association Awards. It was the second big win for him in a week. A few days before the GJA award, he also picked up the Eric and Wendy Schmidt award for excellence in science communication from the National Acad...
2025-11-1113 minClean Air Report GhanaFunding the Fight for Clean AirMichael Asharley explores a stunning global paradox: while air pollution kills nearly 8 million people a year, funding for cleaner air is rapidly disappearing. Between 2022 and 2023 alone, support for outdoor air quality in sub-Saharan Africa dropped by a staggering 91%.Michael speaks with Jacob Johnson Attakpah from the Green Africa Youth Organization about how these funding cuts are hitting grassroots environmental projects in Ghana. From waste recovery centres to youth-led air monitoring, the work continues — but the money is running out.Clean Air Report Ghana is a collaboration between New Narratives and leading Ghanaian newsrooms. Funding is pr...
2025-11-0312 minClean Air Report GhanaPennies for Clean Air, Billions for Fossil FuelsAir pollution kills an estimated 28,000 Ghanaians every year — and costs the country up to $2.8 billion in lost productivity. Yet, as the crisis deepens, global funding for clean air is falling.In this episode of Clean Air Report Ghana on Joy 99.7 FM, host Michael Asharley asks a critical question: why is the world investing less in saving the air we breathe? He breaks down the latest State of Global Air Quality Funding Report, which reveals that support for outdoor air quality dropped by 20%, while projects prolonging fossil fuels more than doubled to $9.5 billion.Michael speaks with De...
2025-10-2114 minClean Air Report GhanaMercury as a Dangerous Air Pollutant: The Hidden Cost of Gold Extraction in GhanaIn Ghana’s gold towns, the danger isn’t always underground — it’s in the air.Michael Asharley investigates a new report by the FCDO, Pure Earth, and the EPA, revealing alarming levels of mercury in the air across artisanal and small-scale mining communities. When mercury is burned to extract gold, it releases invisible, toxic vapour that threatens not just miners, but entire families and nearby towns.Michael speaks with Rev. Dr. Esmond Wisdom Quansah of Pure Earth, Dr. Dezel Tay of Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, and Dr. John Arko-Mensah of the University of Ghana School o...
2025-10-1712 minClean Air Report GhanaWhen the Air Turns Toxic: How Pollution Fuels Breast Cancer and HypertensionThis week on Clean Air Report Ghana, host Michael Asharley connects the dots between the air we breathe and the diseases we fear most. It’s Breast Cancer Awareness Month — but beyond lifestyle and genetics, could Ghana’s polluted air be a silent trigger?In this episode, Jennifer Ambolley of The Chronicle Newspaper shares the stories of market women battling breast cancer while working in smoke-filled stalls and roadside chaos. Then, Kayleb Ahinakwah takes us to the streets, where hawkers breathing in exhaust fumes all day are showing alarming rates of hypertension.From busy markets to con...
2025-10-1514 minClean Air Report GhanaThe Numbers Don’t Lie: How Air Pollution Is Reducing Ghana’s Life ExpectancyWhat’s taking more years off our lives than smoking, unsafe water, or even HIV/AIDS? The answer might surprise you.In this episode of Clean Air Report Ghana, host Michael Asharley speaks with Tanushree Ganguly, Director of the Air Quality Life Index (AQLI) at the University of Chicago, to unpack the latest AQLI 2025 findings. The data reveals that air pollution is now the single greatest external threat to human life expectancy — and West Africa is among the hardest-hit regions.From the hidden dangers in Ghana’s air to the new parliamentary regulation on air qualit...
2025-10-1513 minClean Air Report GhanaThe Blame in the Air: Why Accountability Matters for Clean AirWho’s responsible for cleaning Ghana’s air — the Ministry of Transport, the Energy Commission, the EPA, or your local assembly?Trick question. It’s all of them — and that’s exactly the problem.In this episode of Clean Air Report Ghana, host Michael Asharley explores why Ghana’s air pollution crisis remains unresolved despite decades of monitoring and dozens of overlapping mandates. With more than 30,000 air pollution-related deaths every year, experts say the country’s fragmented approach is costing lives.Michael speaks with Desmond Appiah, Ghana Lead at the Clean Air Fund, who argues that Ghan...
2025-10-1509 min