Earlier this month, an unusual gathering took place in the mining town of Tarkwa. Miners, government officials, and nongovernmental organizations met to discuss and plan how to protect people better from the negative effects of mercury. It was the first meeting of its kind in Ghana, and part of a larger process to tackle the negative effects of mercury.
Last year, Ghana took a first step by signing the Minamata Convention on Mercury—an international treaty designed to reduce mercury exposure globally. It is named after a Japanese town where mercury poisoning killed at least 1,700 people in the 1950s. The Tarkwa gathering kicked off the development of a national action plan for the reduction of mercury in mining, which the treaty requires. Ghana has also started training health workers on mercury exposure, and declared it wants to be among the first 50 countries to ratify the convention. These are important steps but much more needs to be done.
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