Iduapriem Gold Mine Wins A Johns Hopkins Award For It’s Malaria Control Programme

Tarkwa- December 6, 2017- AngloGold Ashanti Iduapriem Gold Mine recently won a Johns Hopkins Award at the Private Sector Malaria Programme (PSMP) Safe Awards. The award was in recognition of the mine’s Malaria programme which aims to reduce malaria incident rates amongst employees, dependents and the surrounding communities.

In regognition of Iduapriem’s efforts a citation was read which said “Your Company’s participation in malaria prevention is a sure way to support the nation in sustaining health and promoting wealth in Ghana.”

Malaria is a growing concern on the mine and its immediate host communities. On the mine, new cases of malaria amongst employees and contractors increased from 172 cases in 2015 to 236 in 2016. It is against this background that Iduapriem mine is channeling its efforts to eradicate malaria in its host communities.

The Managing Director of Iduapriem Gold Mine Jasper Musadaidzwa in recognition of this award noted “The award will encourage the mine to do more in eradicating malaria from our host communities and Ghana at large. At AngloGold Ashanti, the fight against the disease is not only in our host communities but the bigger Tarkwa community. This recognition will spur us on to put in better measures to sustain our gains in that regard.”

The National Malaria Control Pogramme Manager, Dr. Keiza Malm in her address commended Iduapriem Gold Mine for investing GH¢238,410 in the programme as part of its community investment resulting in the reduction of the malaria pandemic amongst employees.

The Chairperson of the Private Sector Malaria Prevention (PSMP), Elizabeth Villars noted “As the private sector, let us emulate and support the interventions implemented by Iduapriem Gold Mine in eradicating the prevalence of the disease.”

Mr Felix Nyanor-Fosu (the Chief of Party) of PSMP explained that the fight against the disease should be a collective effort and commended the Mine and other organizations for their support.

AngloGold Ashanti Iduapriem Gold Mine has so far distributed 12,500 mosquito treated nets in its host communities in collaboration with the Johns Hopkins Centre for Communications supporting the community outreach programme with educational materials. The Municipal Health Directorate trained peer educators and 40 host community volunteers for the distribution of the nets and community education.

The project is contributing to the Municipal Directorate’s Malaria Control Programme in reducing the prevalence of malaria incidence in the Municipality from 25.7% recorded in 2014 to 15% by 2020.