Ghana was the first black nation to gain independence – in 1957. About the same size as Britain, Ghana is home to 22 million people. Seventy per cent of Ghana’s people depend on subsistence farming to survive. Droughts and floods are common, and many families regularly experience severe food shortages.
ActionAid in Ghana
Hankuri Dramani is a women’s group leader in Achuma. Cash credit from ActionAid has enabled Hankuri to keep her three children in school, buy grain for the hungry season and pay hospital bills.
She and her husband go to the night literacy class in their community and can now read about health, education and topical issues in the local newsletter, which is produced with ActionAid support.
Fact file
Average life expectancy in Ghana is 60 years.
Ghana is a similar size to the UK.
The first sub-Saharan country visited by Obama.
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