Gold Fields Ghana Foundation (GFGF) in partnership with the Ghana Health Service (GHS), Tarkwa, has jointly celebrated 2024 World Malaria Day on Thursday, at the Tarkwa Senior High School (TARSCO) in the Western Region.
Held on the theme “Health equity, gender and human rights”, the event, celebrated on April 25, every year, sought to boost stakeholders’ supports and to rekindle efforts to reduce malaria incidence in the Tarkwa enclave.
TARSCO students were educated on malaria prevention, shown how to use mosquito nets and repellents, and contested in an inter-house quiz competition.
They were also given mosquito nets and about 1,000 pieces of repellents.
The Executive Secretary of Gold Fields Ghana Foundation, Mr Abdel-Razak Yakubu, noted that statistics on malaria was not encouraging stating that “although, there have been a lot of impact in this direction.”
He, therefore, stressed the need for stakeholders to redouble their efforts in the malaria prevention, adding that “awareness creation needs to continue so that the country, does not lose the human resources.”
He said “At Gold Fields, health is of much importance to us, as it can affects your physical, mental and emotional well-being. That is why we need to take steps to prevent certain diseases, hence the need to invest in this programme.”
The Foundation, Mr Yakubu said, had since its inception spent $6.2 million under the health sector, to promote effective and efficient health care delivery.
He encouraged the students to apply the mosquito repellent donated by the Foundation to help in the prevention of malaria.
The Western Region Malaria Focal Person, Clement Amankwah, also noted that, over the years, much had been done on awareness creation, “but currently, the focus is on elimination, which is the best way to go.”
He said, children under age five, pregnant women and individuals with weak immune system stood high risk of getting malaria.
“For pregnant women, if you are diagnosed of malaria, you stand a high risk of getting a pre-term baby, miscarriage, underweight baby among others,” Mr Amankwah said.
He observed that there had been some significant reduction in malaria cases in the Western Region, recording four malaria deaths in 2023 as compared to higher figures in previous years.
Municipal Health Director, Tarkwa-Nsuaem, Wilhelmina Tiwaah Duah, said malaria remained the first on top 10 Out Patients Department (OPD) attendance in the Western Region.
However, in Tarkwa Nsuaem, she reported, there had been a strong commitment towards elimination of malaria, through the combined effort of stakeholders.
Ms Duah told the gathering that, over the past year, the municipality had witnessed reductions in key malaria indicators through impactful interventions, and collaborative efforts.
She continued “OPD malaria cases decreased from 12,156 in the first quarter of 2023 to 11,631 in the first quarter of 2024. Malaria admissions of children under the age of five also declined from 3.6 percent to 3.2 percent.
“Malaria in pregnancy has notably declined from 543 to 255 in the same period. Malaria burden index has seen a substantial decrease from 53,879 to 49,987.”
Ms Duah advocated that stakeholders work together to reaffirm their commitment to the theme “Health equity: the cornerstone for achieving malaria elimination in Ghana”.
She said, despite significant progress in recent years, the burden of malaria still “weighed heavily on communities,” affecting the health and well-being of the people, especially the most vulnerable.
Achieving health equity, she explained, meant addressing the underlying factors that promoted health disparities, such as poverty, lack of education and inadequate healthcare infrastructure.
Ms Duah said “Our aim is to improve upon diagnostics and laboratory services within the municipality. Only two out of eight health centres in the municipality have functional laboratory, and we hope to change this trend through effective stakeholder engagement.”
She encouraged TARSCO student to become ambassadors for malaria prevention and control in their communities.
Municipal Chief Executive of Tarkwa- Nsuaem, Benjamin Kesse, expressed hope that the education and demonstration on the prevention of malaria would help to eliminate the disease.
The Headmaster of TARSCO, George Oduro, commended Gold Fields Ghana Foundation for its continued supports to communities.
FROM CLEMENT ADZEI BOYE, TARKWA
