According to statistics released by the Ghana Health Service, approximately 1.3 million people are treated and cured of malaria annually in the Adansi North District of the Ashanti region.
This has prompted AngloGold Ashanti (AGA), Obuasi Mine, in partnership with its strategic malaria control partners (AGAMAL) and the health directorate, to intensify malaria control campaigns aimed at eradicating the disease.
During this year’s World Malaria Day, the Stakeholder Engagement Superintendent of AGA, Mr Edmund Oduro Agyei, disclosed that the mining firm organized a clinical care and medication program for those affected by the disease, including students in the area.
The event was organized in collaboration with AGA Malaria Control Unit, GIZ, AGA Health Foundation, Adansi Fomena Traditional area, Adansi North District Assembly, and the Adansi North District Health Management team.
The exercise was aimed at raising awareness and sharing an action plan to end malaria.
Mr Agyei noted that 16 districts in the country are currently benefiting from the AngloGold Ashanti Malaria Control Limited (AGAMAL) program, and he called on other stakeholders to support the initiative to extend it to all districts in the country.
The action plan to end the disease includes advancing equity by scaling up resources used in fighting malaria and building resilient health systems.
Mr Agyei assured the people in the host communities that the statistics from the AGA Health Foundation show that malaria is no longer among the top three diseases in Obuasi.
He emphasized that the mine is committed to the treatment and elimination of diseases such as malaria and will continue to support the fight against the disease.
The Adansi North District Chief Executive, Mr Eric Kwaku Kusi, disclosed that Ghana is one of the countries most affected by malaria, with over five million cases reported annually.
He further announced that malaria tops the list of 10 killer Outpatient Department Diseases in the district.
The assembly through the district in 2022 intensified malaria control campaigns, and treated mosquito nets were distributed to the general public with no deaths recorded in children under the age of five.
Mr Kusi gave an assurance that the assembly will continue to sustain the success in the fight against malaria.
The Adansi North District Health Director, Mr Eric Atuahene Agyemang, hinted that about 241 million people contract malaria disease worldwide every year, out of which 627,000 die, with Ghana being among the 10 most endemic countries in the world.
He added that about 24,700 malaria cases were recorded in the district in 2022, out of which 53 per cent of the figure were positive.
Mr Agyemang called on other stakeholders to help in the fight against the disease in the district.
