Malaria tops list of 10 killer diseases in Adansi
Malaria has topped a list of top 10 killer Outpatient Department diseases in the Adansi North District of the Ashanti region.
As a result, the District Assembly through the health directorate has mounted an intensified malaria control campaign to eradicate the disease.
The Adansi North District Chief Executive, Mr Eric Kwaku Kusi, announced this at Dompoase as AngloGold Ashanti (AGA), Obuasi Mine, together with its strategic Malaria Control partners, AGAMAL, joined the globe to mark this year's World Malaria Day.
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The mining firm also provided clinical care and medication to the people including students in the Dompoase traditional area.
It was organised in collaboration with AGA Malaria Control Unit, GIZ (a German Corporation), AGA Health Foundation, Adansi Dompoase Traditional Council, Adansi North District Assembly and the Adansi North District Health Management team.
Mr Kusi said Ghana was among the 15 highest-burden countries in the world but said between 2016 to 2019, the country had made significant progress in its case management by 32 per cent (from 237 cases per 1,000 persons at risk to 161 cases).
Aim
The day aimed among other things, to help raise the awareness and share an action plan to end malaria.
The plan will involve advancing equity which entails scaling up the resources used in fighting malaria and building resilient health systems.
The Superintendent Stakeholder Engagement and Sustainability Manager of AGA, Mr Edmund Oduro Agyei, said the mine had been committed to the treatment and elimination of diseases such as malaria and would not relent.
He said it was in that light that its subsidiary, AGAMAL, was set up to help curb the high malaria infections.
Mr Agyei calmed the nerves of the people of Dompoase that based on statistics released from the AGA Health Foundation, malaria was no longer one of the top three diseases in Obuasi.
Indeed, he noted that the reduction of malaria cases had eased the burden on its health system and facilities leading the re-direction of its focus to other health matters.
Mr Agyei said through its socio-economic development plan which is yet to be outdoored will bolster the commitment of the mine to continuously collaborate with relevant stakeholders to collectively embark on rigorous awareness campaigns.
Numbers
The Adansi North district health director, Mr Awuku Odame hinted that about 241 million people contract the malaria disease worldwide every year, out of which 627,000 die, with Ghana being the 10th most endemic country in the world.
He said last year about 5.7 million people were infected with the disease.
Out of the figure, 308 persons lost their lives.
Mr Odame called on other stakeholders to help in the fight against the disease.