Gynaecologist and former Deputy General Secretary of the Ghana Medical Association, Dr Titus Beyuo, has warned that Ghana may be experiencing a community-wide mental health crisis, driven by a troubling obsession with light skin and Western standards of beauty.
His comments follow a joint investigation by JoyNews and Nigeria Health Watch that uncovered a disturbing public health crisis: parents in Ghana are bleaching the skin of their babies and children as young as three using toxic, banned substances.
In communities like Chorkor, a densely populated fishing enclave in Accra, skin tone is becoming a status symbol, and children are the latest victims.
Mothers are applying creams containing dangerous ingredients like hydroquinone, mometasone, and tretinoin, all banned by Ghana's Food and Drugs Authority (FDA).
