As part of efforts to mark this year’s World Humanitarian Month, the charity arm of Vodafone Ghana, Vodafone Ghana Foundation, has embarked on a series of socially impactful projects within the Ashanti, Oti, and Ahafo regions of Ghana.

These activities include its Homecoming initiative to rescue distressed patients, instant schools activation to introduce its e-learning portal to students within the region, and the Healthfest initiative to provide free health screening to residents.

The Foundation also donated food items to financially challenged students of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST).

To kickstart the celebration, Vodafone’s Homecoming initiative settled the medical bills of a total of 63 insolvent patients in Kumasi South Government Hospital in the Ashanti region, Asunafo South District Hospital in the Ahafo region, and the Wora-Wora Hospital in the Oti Region.

The beneficiaries who prolonged their stay in these various hospitals due to financial challenges were finally reunited with their families.

The Foundation’s team of instructors also spent time with 10,000 students from various schools to introduce them to Vodafone’s e-learning platform, Instant Schools.

The free platform gives users unlimited access to teaching and learning materials and is augmenting teaching and learning in the country.

On the heels of these successful initiatives, Vodafone Healthline's team of medical doctors and health professionals organised a free health screening exercise at the Asunafo South District Hospital in the Ahafo region.

Over 700 beneficiaries were screened for Cervical Cancer, Blood Pressure, Blood Glucose, Malaria, Diabetes, Typhoid Fever, Hepatitis B, HIV, Anaemia, and Cholesterol, as well as Ultrasound Scan services, which include Prostate, Abdominal, Pelvic, and Obstetrics Scans.

In addition, over 500 residents were registered on the National Health Insurance (NHIS) for free, while others had their cards either replaced or renewed. Vodafone climaxed the celebration with a donation of food items including cartons of dairy products, bags of rice and cooking oil to financially challenged students at KNUST.

Speaking on the commemorative activities for the month, the Head of Vodafone Ghana Foundation, Amaris Perbi, said; "It is a privilege for us to continue empowering and reshaping our societies for the better through our many impactful initiatives.

The projects we have embarked on to mark the World Humanitarian Months are no novelty, but what makes them special is how we have successfully executed all these projects on a grand scale within the space of a month.

This means that more lives have been impacted within the limited time we had this month.

“Through our initiatives, we are very excited to have joined the global community to ease suffering and bring hope to many. We assure all stakeholders of our continued support to enhance lives and develop our nation,” he continued.

World Humanitarian Day, which is celebrated on August 19, is aimed at raising awareness about humanitarian assistance worldwide and paying tribute to the people who risk their lives to provide it.