Life Expectancy: Males can expect to live 58.07 years , while females can expect to live 59.69 years.
Infant Mortality Rate: 55 deaths per 1,000 live births
Health Issues: The effects of excess mortality due to AIDS, which result in lower average life expectancy, higher infant mortality and death rates, lower population and growth rates, and changes in the distribution of population by age and sex.
Also, the risk for other infections diseases is extremely high. Food or waterborne diseases, such bacterial and protozoal diarrhea, hepatitis A, and typhoid fever; vectorborne diseases, such as malaria and yellow fever; water contact diseases, such as schistosomiasis; and respiratory diseases, such as meningococcal meningitis are prevalent.
Education Issues: Only 74.8% of people age 15 and over can read and write (male: 82.7% female: 67.1%; note the discrepancy between males and females). Ghana has 12,130 primary schools, 5,450 junior secondary schools, 503 senior secondary schools, 21 training colleges, 18 technical institutions, two diploma-awarding institutions and five universities for thier population of 22 million. Primary- and middle-school education is tuition-free, but is not mandatory because there are not enough teachers and facilities available to accommodate all the students. After basic school, pupils may enter Senior secondary (or technical/vocational) schools for a three-year course, which prepare them for university education.At the end of the three year senior secondary course, students are required to sit for the West African Senior Secondary Certificate Examinations (WASSCE). Students who obtain aggregate 18 or better (six is best) can enter one of the five universities.Entrance to universities is by examination following completion of senior secondary school. School enrollment totals not quite 2 million: 1.3 million primary; 107,600 secondary; 489,000 middle; 21,280 technical; 11,300 teacher training; and 5,600 university.
Housing Issues: A brief history of the housing of Ghana.
Ghana struggles to accommodate all of the returning nationals who worked in the cocoa plantations and escaped rebel fighting in Côte d'Ivoire.
The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), to which the Ghana government is a signatory, in Goal 7, Target 11, commits governments to achieve a significant improvement in the lives of at least 100 million slum dwellers by 2020; however, judging by the pace of progress in the delivery of housing in Ghana, it is doubtful that this goal would be achieved.
Currently, experts in the building industry say the government does not appear to have any housing policy. Most of the housing needs of the country are being provided by the private sector, and these come at exorbitant cost, beyond the reach of many workers. In fact, there is no laws to regulate rent in the country. The high cost involve in acquiring decent accommodation in the cities, is cited by analysts as a major reason more and more people are putting up unauthorized structures that invariably result in slums.
Conditions for Women and Children: In Ghana women face domestic violence and sexual abuse that gets swept under the door and witch hunts. Incidents of violence in Ghana often occur at home and that they are generally viewed as “family matters”. The social structures in which domestic violence is rooted, support the concept of men having power over women and of adults having power over children. Violence is tolerated in this context – particularly if exercised by the husband or used to control children’s behaviour. According to the data, 33 percent of Ghanaian women become victims of physical violence. Sexual abuse is experienced by 27 percent, while 27 percent likewise suffer psychological abuse at home. The study also showed that the victims rarely speak out about their experiences, and that, at most, ten percent of them report domestic violence to the authorities. The police tend to brush aside such complaints and pending court proceedings are often cancelled “as mutually agreed between families”.
1998, the government had begun setting up Women and Juvenile Units (WAJU) in the police force. They are meant to deal with violence against women and children. However, the skills of these units remain limited – as do their resources. Nonetheless, the WAJUs serve as strategic partners for civil society organisations fighting domestic violence. Some organisations inform victims about their rights and provide counselling services. It is a challenge to build up the human resources needed for this purpose. It is important to protect those women and children who are at risk. The Ark Foundation, a gender advocacy and human rights organisation, started setting up provisional shelters for victims and later became a refuge for abused women and children. This facility was the first of its kind in Western Africa. Personal safety has the utmost priority, and those in need can stay as long as necessary. However, Ghana’s inadequate institutional structures make issues of funding, professionalisation and rehabilitation a huge challenge.
Also in Ghana there is no foster care system for children. The Ark Foundation faces huge problems when children are born as a result of violence or incest because of this. Unfortunately this makes it hard to find families who areable to take in an unrelated or even traumatised child. Adoption procedures are troublesome and the authorities often lack the necessary skills.
Dollar Amount per Year: $2,600
Hunger: It is said that the world today produces enough grain alone to provide every human being on the planet with 3,500 calories a day; however despite being a farming region, northern Ghana bears the brunt of hunger and malnutrition as demand quickly outstrips supply. Almost forty percent of children under five in the region are malnourished. The harvest of the early millet in July usually attenuates the six-month long hunger season, which lasts from January to June. Then in October, groundnut, the basic ingredient for making soups of all types to go with any kind of meal, is harvested in earnest across the district. There are also sweet potatoes and yams. In the central part of the district where an irrigation facility exists, rice is being harvested to make room for growing tomatoes, one of the main cash crops in the district. Leftover of the district's main meal can be found in the morning in even some of the poorest homes. But food is not always in abundance in the Kassena-Nankana district nor does the season of feasting last more than a few months in northern Ghana. Unfortunately, even in a good year there is never enough food to last the long dry season.
Refugee Issues: 38,684 (Liberia), 14,136 (Togo) People are escaping rebel fighting in Côte d'Ivoire and seeking refuge in Ghana.
Armed conflict in Liberia and the western zones of Côte d’Ivoire has caused large numbers of Liberian refugees to flee to Ghana. The refugee population has risen from 3,000 to 52,820. These new influxes have placed enormous pressures on limited infrastructure and resources available to refugees, particularly in Buduburam Settlement, located some 30 kms from the capital, Accra. As well as adopting a generous asylum policy towards these refugees, Ghana has remained at the forefront of regional and international initiatives to find political solutions to the crises in Côte d’Ivoire and Liberia, both of which have threatened stability in the subregion.
The World Factbook
Education In Ghana
Social Watch: Ghana's Housing Sector, Who Cares for the Poor
Ghana: Protecting Women and Children
Ghana: The Paradox of Hunger in the Midst of Plenty
UNHCR Global Appeal 2005
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