Even with Ghana’s impressive economic growth in recent times, the country’s industries still lag behind the services sector in its contribution to both GDP and employment. Ghanaian manufacturers struggle to overcome the difficulties posed by infrastructure problems, informality, and the lack of skilled labour and good management practices. Financial constraints, high cost of doing business, and difficulties to access credit also make growth harder for companies of all sizes.

Across the world, countries have imposed social distancing regulations to avoid overwhelming the health care capacity during the corona pandemic — the so-called “flatten the curve.” Such a policy can be sensible.

The first peer-reviewed cost-benefit analysis of the US shows just that. It looks at moderate social distancing, an approach similar to Sweden’s. Here, social interaction is reduced about 40 percent, allowing schools and work to stay open but dramatically reducing contacts in all other public areas.

Ghana’s economy has shown robust growth in the past two decades, with GDP per capita increasing by 88% in real terms during this period. Still, poverty remains a challenge, especially among the rural population. For an economy largely reliant on agriculture and mineral resource mining like Ghana’s, land plays a crucial role in development.

However, the land structure in the country is complicated, with most holdings remaining in customary ownership, untitled, and undocumented. This generates problems of disputes and inadequate utilization of the property.

A third of Ghana’s population is between the ages of 15 and 34, but the country struggles to offer employment for its youth. Job creation has not kept up the pace with the country’s strong GDP growth, and among young people unemployment has increased from 10% in 2008 to 14% in 2018, far exceeding the rate for adults. Ghana also has lower levels of labour productivity than other African countries with a similar economic standing, partly because of inadequate training, and industries experience a lack of employable workers with the relevant skills for their tasks.

Across the world, countries have imposed social distancing regulations to avoid overwhelming the health care capacity during the coronavirus pandemic — the so-called “flatten the curve”. Such a policy can make a lot of sense.

The first peer-reviewed cost-benefit analysis of the US shows just that. It looks at moderate social distancing, an approach similar to Sweden’s. Here, social interaction is reduced about 40 per cent, allowing schools and work to stay open but dramatically reducing contacts in all other public areas.

Achieving universal primary and secondary education is a central target of the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Completion of primary and secondary education equips individuals with the needed skills and knowledge to establish businesses, seek employment, and save to secure their futures. Higher levels of education ultimately result in improved intergenerational mobility and sustained poverty reduction. 

On the Adam Carolla Show, I recently discussed why corona policies will do more harm than good in many developing countries, and that there are much more effective ways to save lives.

In Ghana, health care policy interventions and research budgets have traditionally been directed towards combatting communicable diseases like HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis. These are still a major public health concern, but as the country advances toward greater prosperity, the prevalence of non-communicable diseases is also rapidly increasing.

Cardiovascular diseases, cancers, and diabetes are particularly on the rise in Ghana, and one of the largest risk factors for complications such as stroke and coronary heart disease is high blood pressure.

Sweden is what you get when you ask experts to run the show. If we do not have a cure and we don’t have a vaccine that doesn’t seem to be forthcoming, you really have three options. You can let corona rip through society, you can have moderate social distancing (which is what Sweden has done), and you can have strict lockdowns which are what many states have done.”

Nobody is suggesting that you should just let corona rip through society but likewise, you need to understand that a strict lockdown is simply not sustainable.

Mental health problems are a major contributor to the disease burden across the world and in Ghana. They have a significant impact on individuals through increased disability and mortality, but they also generate substantial costs for Ghana and elsewhere in the form of lost productivity.