Nii Kojo Ababio V, Chief of Ngleshie in the Ga state, has launched a three-year research project on Population Training and Research Capacity for Development (PopTRCD) for the people of Ga Mashie and Old Fadama in Accra. The project, which is under the auspices of the Regional Institute for Population Studies, University of Ghana, sought to produce and document knowledge about populations issues at Ga Mashie area in Accra. Other collaborators include the University of Cape Coast, Ibadan University, Nigeria, Fourah Bay Collage, Sierra Leone and Southampton University, UK. The project would also highlight the needs of the residents and gained an improved understanding of the structural factors that under-grid the severe urban health problems in those areas. The European Union would fund the project. It would also research into the relationship between urban poverty and health, especially the impact on individual household members. Speaking at the function to launch the project, Dr Nii Ardey Codjoe, Project Coordinator of PopTRCD, said the socio-economic and health related problems in the urban areas were more than that in the rural areas hence the conviction to embark on the study. He said the study would employ a demographic surveillance method of research where researchers would be required to visit residents in Ga Mashie and Old Fadama to conduct interviews and collate information. Dr Codjoe said the exercise would enable researchers to have a fair idea about the problems of communities in Ga Mashie. He said after the project, managers of the project would implement other interventions such as training programmes for small medium industry and assistance to schools with exchange programmes abroad. Source: GNA