The refocusing of aid efforts in the impoverished north is critical to achieving World Summit goals in Ghana. Young mothers and children suffer the most from these regional disparities. Hygiene education will be offered to eradicate guinea worm disease, a parasitic infection found in northern Ghana that comes from ingesting unclean water and can lead to paralysis. Education is key to eliminating the threats to women and children in northern Ghana. Educational programs will have a special focus on girls' education.
Girls often miss out on educational opportunities, especially in poorer areas of Ghana.
Families often rely on girl children to help provide for the family by working or by taking care of their siblings as their parents seek work further away from home. U.S. Fund contributions will be used to assist in the expansion of Childscope, an educational program designed to provide accessible, quality education to children regardless of gender. The U.S. Fund is also supporting community empowerment initiatives, including a women s microcredit program which provides low-cost loans that allow women to open small businesses. The microcredit program gives women a chance to strengthen their abilities and resources to better provide for their families without sacrificing their children's opportunities to education. Since the signing of the 1992 General Peace Agreement, Mozambique has been slowly recovering from the effects of a sixteen-year civil war that killed, maimed, and traumatized thousands of children and women.