AGAMal Tackles Malaria In Prisons

DDP Isaac Kofi Egyir (middle) and Samuel Aseidu (right)

AngloGold Ashanti Malarial Control Limited (AGAMal) has organised an indoor residual spraying at the Nsawam Medium Security Prison.

The activity is expected to be carried out in other prisons across the country as part of an initiative by stakeholders, including National Malaria Control Programme (NMCP), Ghana Health Service (GHS) and Ghana Prison Service (GPS).

The programme, which is set to span for a period of 10 days, will seek to eradicate malaria from the prison.

In all, it is estimated that 13,707 structures will be sprayed with 2,742 units of SumiShield 50 WG insecticides and will be effective for a period of nine months. Insects which land on the wall within the stipulated period will be killed but will have no harmful effect on the inmates.

Samuel Aseidu, programmes director of AGAMal, indicated that with the required support and adequate funding, AngloGold Ashanti seeks to kick out malaria out of the country completely.

He, however, charged Ghanaians to involve themselves in the process by keeping their environment clean.

“I have high hopes and very enthusiastic about this, with great passion to eliminate malaria from our nation but it will take you and I to do our bit to keep on educating people our side is to put the chemicals on the wall your side is to have enough knowledge so that we do not create a breeding ground for mosquitoes to breed,” he said.

The programme will subsequently target other public institutions like the Ghana Police Service (GPS) and other vulnerable sub-populations in society.

The Deputy Director of Prisons, Isaac Kofi Egyir, expressed his delight at the kind gesture and also used the opportunity to call on more organisations to follow suit.

“We call on other organisations to come on board specifically to support AGAMal to continue and intensify what they are doing for the prisons,” he pointed out.

Background
AngloGold Ashanti (Ghana) Malaria Control Programme was set up in 2006 as a non- profit entity to combat the menace of malaria affecting the productivity of AngloGold Ashanti.

By Amanallah Tahiru & Marcellina Enyonam Fleku