President Obama made his first visit to sub-Saharan Africa on July
10-11, 2009, visiting Ghana after attending the G8 Summit in Italy.
Obama is the third consecutive U.S. President to stop in Ghana, one of
the top African nations that has consistently been reducing poverty and
improving lives through economic growth.
Some Ghana stats:
In
2004, the Ghanaian government announced the elimination of school fees
for primary schools. This coupled with a new school feeding program,
increased enrollment rates for primary school boys from 60% in
2004-2005 to 84% in 2007-2008, and girls from 58% to 82%.
Ghana
currently receives funding from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS,
Tuberculosis, and Malaria and is one of the 15 focus countries in the
President's Malaria Initiative (PMI). PMI's work in Ghana aims to
distribute more than one million bed nets, spray 100,000 houses with
pesticides that kill mosquitoes carrying malaria, and to provide 1.2
million doses of malaria medicine to treat children under five.
Ghana
has a 5-year, $547 million compact with the Millennium Challenge
Corporation (MCC), focused on agriculture, rural development and
infrastructure improvement. During President George W. Bush's visit to
Ghana in 2008, then President Kafuor renamed a main highway in Accra (a
project of the MCC) the "George W. Bush Highway."
Ghana
has experienced 4-5% annual growth over the past 20 years, and has
nearly halved its poverty rate since 1992, putting it on track to
achieve the first Millennium Development Goal by 2015.
In
2007, Ghana was the United States' tenth largest trading partner in
sub-Saharan Africa and the sixth largest exporter to the U.S. (Compare
even more key development stats between Ghana, Sub-Saharan Africa and
the U.S.
here).
President
Obama’s recent trip to Ghana showcases the country’s success story as a
concrete example of how targeted smart aid, joined with good
governance, can lead to noticeable, positive change.