Ghana is highly vulnerable and threatened by several hazards and has sought ways of minimizing impacts of hazards events over time including demonstrating an interest in developing an emergency management training and an higher education degree program. Yet, as of 2013, the country has not developed a disaster management training program or a degree program. This study investigated Ghana’s efforts to see these programs develop with a particular focus on identifying the factors involved in explaining the current status of Ghana’s efforts. Purposive and snowball sampling were used to select 19 emergency management scholars and practitioners who have been involved with Ghana’s efforts. An additional 6 faculty members who have been involved with development of other new degree programs in 4 Ghanaian universities were selected through snowball sampling for the purposes of comparison with the data collected from those involved in efforts to initiate an emergency management higher education degree program. The data collection was done through in-depth semi-structured face-to-face and telephone interviews. Both the data collection and analysis were guided by Rubin and Rubin’s (2005) Responsive Interviewing Model. The data show that although Ghana intends to develop an emergency management degree program in the future, its efforts, to date, have been geared towards developing a training program. The results suggest that six main factors explain why Ghana has not yet established the emergency management training program it intends to first develop. The factors include institutional support, partnership, advocacy, funding, program marketing, and cultural factors. Further, the results show that there are likely to be six other factors to address if, and when Ghana decides to pursue an emergency management degree program. These factors include faculty issues, student issues, supporting learning materials, professional legitimacy, accreditation and curriculum development, and autonomy and administrative location.

Comprehensive emergency management and response is crucial for disaster prevention and health emergencies. However, in African countries with an abundance of natural disasters and a rising surge in cardiovascular and obstetric emergencies, little research exists on emergency response. This study examines the fire emergency response in Kumasi Metropolitan Assembly (KMA), Ghana's second largest city. We use Geographic Information Systems (GIS) tools including location -allocation modeling to evaluate the existing system of fire facilities, identify gaps in service, and suggest locations for new fire stations to maximize population coverage. Our results show that fire stations within KMA are poorly distributed and large portions of the metropolis are underserved, a situation that is partly responsible for the huge losses of lives and property during fire outbreaks.