Environmental Problems and the Urban Household in the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area (GAMA) -Ghana

This report details a study of household environmental problems in the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area (GAMA), Ghana, focusing on the intersection of poverty, urban growth, and public health. Based on a survey of 1,000 households and physical testing of water and air, the study examines deficiencies in water supply, sanitation, solid waste management, pest control, food safety, and indoor air quality. It finds that poor households bear a disproportionate burden of environmental risks, which are strongly associated with childhood diarrhoea and respiratory infections.

• Water access in GAMA is highly stratified by wealth; while 98% of wealthy households have indoor piping, only 26% of poor households do, with 33% of the poor relying on water vendors.
• In-home water contamination is widespread, with 87% of storage container samples testing positive for faecal coliform, compared to 10% of tap water samples.
• Childhood diarrhoea prevalence is strongly linked to water source location; it was 7% for households with a water source in the house compound and 20% for those without.
• Sanitation facilities are severely overcrowded; 41% of households rely on communal facilities, and two-thirds of these users report that toilets are often unusable due to long queues or being out-of-order.
• Overcrowded sanitation leads to open defecation; 36% of households report that neighbourhood children sometimes practise open defecation, primarily in poor areas.
• Solid waste management is inadequate, with the Waste Management Department collecting only about 60% of refuse; 83% of households dump waste at neighbourhood sites, and 13% dump on unofficial sites.
• Malarial mosquitoes are a persistent hazard, and there is evidence that some species are adapting to breed in household water containers, increasing the risk for those who store water indoors.
• The use of chemical pest control is associated with respiratory issues: mosquito coils are linked to higher childhood acute respiratory infection, and pump-spray insecticides are linked to respiratory symptoms in women.
• Food contamination from vendors is a significant risk; childhood diarrhoea prevalence was roughly twice as high among households that patronised food vendors.
• Charcoal is the dominant cooking fuel (principal fuel for 69% of households), and its use, along with fuelwood, leads to high exposure to respirable particulates and carbon monoxide.
• A multivariate analysis identifies eight significant risk factors for childhood diarrhoea: sharing toilets with >5 households, using pots for water storage, open water containers, neighbourhood children defecating outdoors, flies in the kitchen, not washing hands before food prep, water interruptions, and buying vendor food.
• Childhood acute respiratory infection (ARI) is significantly associated with children being present during cooking, flies in the kitchen, crowding (<4m2 per person in sleeping room), water interruptions, mosquito coil use, never cooking outdoors, and leaky roofs.
• Respiratory problem symptoms in women are significantly associated with smoking, pump-spray insecticide use, water interruptions, never cooking outdoors, and leaky roofs.
• Environmental management in GAMA involves a fragmented institutional structure with at least eight ministries involved, alongside local political groups like the Committees for the Defence of the Revolution (CDRs) and spontaneous neighbourhood associations.

APA

-1, Benneh, G., Songsore, J., Nabila, J. S., Amuzu, A., Tutu, K., Yangyuoru, Y., & McGranahan, G. (n.d.). Environmental Problems and the Urban Household in the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area (GAMA) -Ghana. Stockholm Environment Institute. https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/SEI-Report-EnvironmentalProblemsAccraGhana-McGranahan-1993-FullTextOCR.pdf

Chicago

-1, George Benneh, Jacob Songsore, John S. Nabila, A.T. Amuzu, K.A. Tutu, Yvon Yangyuoru, and Gordon McGranahan. Environmental Problems and the Urban Household in the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area (GAMA) -Ghana. Stockholm Environment Institute, n.d. https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/SEI-Report-EnvironmentalProblemsAccraGhana-McGranahan-1993-FullTextOCR.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=-1 |last2=Benneh |first2=George |last3=Songsore |first3=Jacob |last4=Nabila |first4=John S. |last5=Amuzu |first5=A.T. |last6=Tutu |first6=K.A. |last7=Yangyuoru |first7=Yvon |last8=McGranahan |first8=Gordon |title=Environmental Problems and the Urban Household in the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area (GAMA) -Ghana |publisher=Stockholm Environment Institute |url=https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/SEI-Report-EnvironmentalProblemsAccraGhana-McGranahan-1993-FullTextOCR.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{1ndenvironmental, author = {-1 and Benneh, George and Songsore, Jacob and Nabila, John S. and Amuzu, A.T. and Tutu, K.A. and Yangyuoru, Yvon and McGranahan, Gordon}, title = {{Environmental Problems and the Urban Household in the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area (GAMA) -Ghana}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, url = {https://www.sei.org/mediamanager/documents/Publications/SEI-Report-EnvironmentalProblemsAccraGhana-McGranahan-1993-FullTextOCR.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }