Mitigating Lead Exposure in Ghana: Lead-Contaminated Cookware and Cosmetics

The Mitigating Lead Exposure in Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs) project seeks to reduce lead exposure in Asia, Africa, and Latin America from exposure sources such as metal and ceramic cookware, adulterated spices, environmentally unsound used lead-acid battery (ULAB) recycling, and cosmetics. The overarching objective is to assist governments and stakeholders in strengthening institutional capacities, programs, and policies to effectively assess, prioritize, and mitigate lead exposure. Project countries include Colombia, Egypt, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Peru, and the Philippines.

In Ghana, the Mitigating Lead Exposure in Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs) project is focused on reducing lead exposure from the exposure sources lead-contaminated cookware and cosmetics.

Pure Earth has steadily increased its work in Ghana on lead exposure issues since establishing a national Toxic Sites Identification Program in 2010. In 2020, Pure Earth established a physical office in Ghana and expanded its activities significantly. Since 2020, Pure Earth, UNICEF, the Ghana Health Service, and Ghana EPA have collaborated on activities that include a large-scale BLL survey (3227 participants, but not nationally representative). 

In a recent nationwide BLL survey Pure Earth conducted in 3 regions of Ghana, Muslim-majority Northern Ghana had the highest prevalence of lead poisoning at the regional level. Lead-contaminated eyeliner, locally known as “chilo,” was identified through follow-up home-based assessments as a potentially important contributor to exposure. In Northern Ghana, chilo use was nearly universal and highly correlated with elevated BLLs. Among the most contaminated cosmetics sampled in Ghana, we found many were eyeliner products imported from and manufactured in South Asia.

Expected Outcomes:

1. Improved understanding of the relative contribution to lead poisoning between cookware and cosmetics (and potentially other sources) in Ghana through expanded home-based source assessments (aka “items exchange”). 
2. Understanding and comparison of the cost-effectiveness of interventions that remove primary contributing sources of exposure in a given geography (as identified through home-based assessment) (CGD).
3. Increased understanding of supply chains, regulatory landscape, and market dynamics of cookware & cosmetics in Ghana.

Project activities:

1. Key stakeholder and production mapping for cosmetics and cookware in Ghana
2. Market screening, supply chain analysis, and regulatory assessment for cookware and cosmetics.
3. Research Protocol design and Ethical Review Process approval for Randomized Control Trial  
4. Research Program for Cookware and Cosmetics in Northern Ghana RCT