Asanko Opportunity signs partnership with Health Partners International

Asanko Opportunity Cycle, an initiative of Asanko Gold Mines, has signed a three-year partnership programme with Health Partners International, a Canadian NGO, to improve maternal and child health care in the Amansie South and West districts in the Ashanti Region.

The project, dubbed: "Obaatampa", is expected to provide health professionals in eight beneficiary health facilities in the two districts with the requisite skills in pharmaceutical supply chain management and maternal and child health care.

The project’s targeted activities earmarked include capacity building in pharmaceutical supply chain management and training of midwives and equipping them with basic tools to enhance their work.

Focus

It will also focus on donating medical supplies to enhance health delivery in the two districts.

The Executive General Manager of Asanko Gold Mines, Mr Charles Amoah, disclosed this in a speech read on his behalf by the acting Executive General Manager, Mr Shadrach Ainoo, during the presentation of boxes of reading materials to eight schools at Manso Adubia in the Amansie South District in the Ashanti Region.

Last Wednesday's presentation brought the number of beneficiary schools to 18, having assisted 10 of such schools last year.

The project, which began in 2016, is a collaboration among the mining firm, the Canadian Organisation for Development through Education (CODE) and the Ghana Book Trust.

Mr Amoah expressed the hope that the partnership would help reduce the maternal mortality rate in particular.

Education

He said through the reading project, academic performance had improved tremendously, which had led to high performance in the BECE.

"One of the reasons for introducing this literacy and educational programme in our catchment area is the company's full recognition of the standard of education in the Amansie West and South districts which had more room for improvement," he said.

Mr Amoah hinted that the project, which is estimated to cost both the company and its partners $1.2 million over six years, had led to a reduction in the number of dropouts in first-cycle institutions in the area.

Opportunities

He was of the firm belief that the reading programme had created opportunities for pupils in the catchment area to compete equally with those in the urban areas.

Director of Education

The District Director of Education for Amansie South and West, Mr Kwabena Owusu, called for collaboration among all stakeholders to promote the welfare of children and mothers in the area.

He commended pupils who represented the two districts in a special reading competition in Accra for placing fourth.