Ghana

Through its groundbreaking Inform Women, Transform Lives campaign, The Carter Center partners with city leaders worldwide to raise awareness about women’s right to access information and to help cities reach women with valuable information and essential municipal services.  

Access to this information empowers women with a stronger voice, enabling them to participate in public life, utilize public services, and make more informed decisions for themselves, their families, and their communities. In Ghana, the project has partnered with the city of Accra. 

The Carter Center has sent teams to observe two elections in Ghana — in 1992, the first democratic election in almost 30 years, and 2008. The elections were peaceful and generally transparent, helping to strengthen Ghana’s democracy and establish its role as a regional leader.  and role as a regional leader.  

More information about these elections is available in our publications section. 

In December 2015, The Carter Center brought together more than 40 scholars, activists, and traditional and religious leaders to find ways to combat the abuse and oppression of women and girls in Ghana. The Human Rights Defenders International Forum took place over three days in Accra, with workshops and public sessions on topics including: 

• The role of the media and religious leaders in protecting girls 
• The challenges of women’s access to leadership 
• Strategies for preventing and eliminating violent extremism 

Participants included the national chief imam of Ghana, a Senegalese Islamic scholar, the founder of a faith-based organization that rescues victims of human trafficking, and a Nigerian human rights lawyer. Participants learned new tools to combat the abuse and oppression of women and girls and became better equipped to counter interpretations of faith-based teaching that encourage violence and inequality.  

This project ended in 2015. 

Current status: Transmission stopped, May 2010 
Certification of Dracunculiasis Eradication: 2015 

As one of the Carter Center’s first country partners in the Guinea Worm Eradication Program, Ghana launched its national eradication program in 1988. Nearly 180,000 cases of Guinea worm disease were reported during the country’s first national case search in 1989, ranking Ghana second in the world in cases at the time. 

Our Work and Methods

The Ghana Guinea Worm Eradication Program introduced the following approaches:

• Health education
• Distribution of nylon household filters and pipe filters to strain water fleas with infected larvae
• Safe, monthly treatment of stagnant water sources with larvicide
• Direct advocacy with water organizations
• Increased efforts to build safer hand-dug wells

• Village volunteers, who were trained, supplied, and supervised by the program, carried out monthly surveillance.
• Interventions were tailored to meet the unique needs of migratory farming populations.
• Targeted radio messages and the development of additional educational materials also were important tools in stopping disease transmission.
• In 2001, The Carter Center engaged the women of the Ghana Red Cross Society to work with and support village volunteers in the most affected districts. The Red Cross Society women — who at one point numbered more than 5,000 — were the eyes and ears of the community, reporting cases, ensuring proper use of filters, and preventing worm contamination in water sources.

Impacts

Despite major setbacks — including ethnic fighting in the highest endemic area and a breakdown in the main water supply in one district — Ghana steadily reported annual reductions in cases.

In July 2011, after completing 14 consecutive months reporting zero indigenous cases of Guinea worm disease, Ghana Vice President John Mahama officially announced that the country had stopped disease transmission.

In 2015, Ghana was certified by the World Health Organization as having eliminated Guinea worm disease.

The Center ended its activities in Ghana in August 2011.

With support from the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, the Carter Center’s Trachoma Control Program helped the Ghana Health Service’s Trachoma Control Program promote hygiene and sanitation.

Our Work and Methods

The Center supported the training of more than 8,000 community health workers, including teachers, environmental health officers, and village volunteers to deliver core program messages to rural villages. 

Radio broadcasts of trachoma prevention jingles were used to reach Ghanaian villagers living in some of the most isolated and remote areas of the country. 

The program donated wind-up radios and supported local stations in the production and broadcast of weekly trachoma shows, hosting “radio listening clubs” in the Upper West region for members to discuss the lessons. 

Impacts

Trachoma is no longer a public health problem in Ghana, as determined by the World Health Organization, making it the first county in sub-Saharan Africa to eliminate the disease through implementation of the SAFE strategy.  

Ghana became the first sub-Saharan African country validated by the WHO as having eliminated trachoma through implementation of the SAFE strategy. 

The Center ended its activities in Ghana in August 2011.

Working with the Ghanaian Ministry of Farming and Agriculture, the Carter Center’s Agriculture Program began assisting farmers in the Ashanti and Central regions of Ghana in 1986 to improve food security. The program was part of a larger joint initiative with the Sasakawa Africa Association, led by Nobel Peace Prize winner Norman Borlaug, that helped more than 8 million small-scale, sub-Saharan farmers. 

Our Work and Methods

The program provided farmers with credit for fertilizers and enhanced seeds to grow test plots, often yielding 200% to 400% more crops. Participating farmers went on to teach others, creating a ripple effect to stimulate self-sufficiency.  

This program ended in 2003.

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