The successful implementation of various intervention programmes, including the Indoor Residual Spray (IRS), by AngloGold Ashanti have helped to prevent malaria and save more than one million Ghanaian lives.
“Through the malaria control interventions, more than 1, 177, 450 people in 159, 355 households across all operational areas are protected from malaria annually,” says the mining firm.
Currently, the IRS intervention is being implemented in sixteen districts, including the Obuasi Municipality and Obuasi-East District, as well as all the eleven districts in the Upper-West and three districts in the Upper-East Regions.
It is being implemented by the AGA Malaria Control Limited (AGAMal) in partnership with the Ghana Health Service, with funding from the Global Fund and AngloGold Ashanti Obuasi Mine.
Mr. Edmund Oduro Agyei, the Superintendent for Stakeholder Engagement at the Sustainability Unit of the Mine, addressing a durbar of the chiefs and people of Dompoase in the Adansi-North District to mark the 2022 World Malaria Day, said the mining firm was committed to sustaining the gains made in combating malaria.
He said through the various educational campaigns by stakeholders and interventions such as the supply of treated mosquito nets by the AGAMal, the incidence of malaria had reduced significantly within the catchment area of the Mine.
“Based on statistics from the AGA Health Foundation, malaria is no more one of the top three diseases in Obuasi,” Mr. Oduro Agyei stated.
This, he said, had contributed considerably to lessening the burden on the healthcare system, and called for a collective effort in the campaign to achieve a malaria-free Ghana.
Mr. Isaac Awuku Odame, the Adansi-North District Director of Health, pointed out that the World Health Organisation’s global malaria strategy called for a 90 per cent worldwide reduction of cases and death by 2030.
Mr. Eric Kwaku Kusi, the District Chief Executive (DCE), in a speech read on his behalf, lauded the AGA Obuasi Mine and its partners for their resolve to combat the spread of malaria given its life-threatening nature.
Nana Afia Afrifa Tokudum III, the Queen of Dompoase, advised Ghanaians to strive to always use insecticide-treated mosquito nets since it remained the main form of malaria prevention.
World Malaria Day is observed annually on April 25, to bring global attention to the efforts being made to bring an end to malaria, and encourage action to reduce suffering and death from the disease.
Malaria is a life-threatening disease caused by parasites that are transmitted to people through the bites of infected female Anopheles mosquitoes.
Its symptoms include fever, chills, sweats, headache, body aches, nausea, and vomiting.
This year’s event was marked under the theme: “Advance Equity, Build Resilience, End Malaria”.
