he AngloGold Ashanti Obuasi mine has extended its quarterly health outreach programme dubbed ‘Mini Clinic’ to inmates in the local prisons in the Obuasi municipality.

The health conditions of inmates in Ghana are generally poor due to inadequate supply of drugs and health personnel despite efforts by government and the Ghana Prisons Service.

Realizing and contributing to Sustainable Development Goal 3 (Good health and well-being), the mine deemed it fit to provide quality healthcare to the prisoners as it is their basic right.

The inmates were screened for various ailments including HIV/ AIDS and treated by qualified medical professionals from the AngloGold Ashanti Health Foundation (AGAHF).

The mini-clinic is an integral part of the health pillar of AngloGold Ashanti’s 10-Year Socio-Economic Development Plan, which has an intermediate goal of improving access to quality healthcare and services.

It is fully sponsored by AngloGold Ashanti in partnership with Otumfuo Osei Tutu II Foundation, Ghana Health Service, and the Municipal Assemblies in Obuasi and Obuasi East (OMA & OEMA).

The screening for inmates coincided with AngloGold Ashanti Obuasi Mine’s commemoration of World AIDS Day.

As part of the celebration, another screening and sensitisation program was held at the Obuasi Central Market with more than 1000 participants.

They were screened and treated for various ailments including HIV/AIDS, high blood pressure, eye diseases, diabetes, among others.

Early screening

Okwan John Addae of the AGA Health Foundation indicated that early screening and detection for HIV is crucial for managing HIV effectively and preventing further spread.

“This allows for prompt diagnosis, enabling individuals to start treatment early, potentially improving their health outcomes and significantly reducing the risk of transmitting the virus to others,” he said.

Purpose

Community Relations Manager of AGA Obuasi Mine, Edmund Oduro Agyei, explains the exercise was to demonstrate the Mine’s contributions towards reducing HIV/AIDS, promoting good health and ensuring that residents of the host communities enjoy better and sustainable standards of living.

The theme for this year's World Aids day is “Take the Right Path: My Health, My Right!”.

Emphasizing on the theme, Mr. Oduro Agyei stressed on essence of keeping a healthy body daily.
“It is not only about the absence of sickness or illness in our bodies, but the continuous and active state of wellness and wellbeing that we must continue to achieve and maintain for ourselves and our communities.”

" We understand that the commemoration of World AIDS Day is not just an event, hence we listed a plenitude of activities to mark the day. This started with a series of sensitisation programmes on radio stations and community information centers in Obuasi", he said.

Commendation

ASP James Ekow Amoah, the Chaplain of the Obuasi Local Prisons commended AngloGold Ashanti for extending the mini-clinic program to the inmates emphasising that access to quality healthcare by the inmates has been a major challenge.

He said they have had to grapple with inadequate supply of drugs at their infamry making it difficult for inmates to receive adequate medical care.

He emphasised the importance of such free screening exercises for inmates since it helps officers to know their state of health and how to handle them.