The Zzapp Malaria mobile application leverages artificial intelligence and geospatial mapping technology to efficiently identify and manage mosquito breeding sites.

This technology enables users to effective­ly map locations where mosquito larvae are present and absent, allowing for more targeted intervention strategies.

Mr Ignatius Williams, Head of Monitoring and Evaluation at AGAMaL, disclosed to The Ghanaian Times that the AI tool had contribut­ed to reducing malaria prevalence to approxi­mately one per cent in the Obuasi and Obuasi East municipalities.

“The fact that the AI tool easily prioritises or predicts which sites have mosquito larvae and which sites do not, make it easier to strat­egise to address the situation,” he explained.

Mr Williams was speaking to The Ghanaian Times at the sideline of a mini clinic held at Black Park in the Obuasi East Municipality on Friday.

The event, organised by AngloGold Ashan­ti’s Obuasi Mine, commemorated this year’s World Malaria Day on the theme: “Malaria Ends with Us, Re-Invest, Re-Imagine, and Re-Ignite.”

The clinic was conducted in collaboration with the Health Services Directorates of Obuasi and Obuasi East municipalities, the Otumfuo Osei Tutu II Foundation, and other partners to bring quality primary healthcare closer to community members, particularly the elderly, children, and economically vulnerable populations. Free health services including di­agnosis, treatment, and prevention of malaria were provided.

According to Mr Williams, AGAMaL had secured $21 million in funding support from the Global Fund over three years to imple­ment various interventions complementing the National Malaria Elimination Programme.

“These interventions are science-based and aligned with national malaria elimination strat­egies, with promising prospects of helping to achieve the national target of eliminating the disease from the country by 2030,” he stated.

Key interventions include the Indoor Residual Spraying (IRS) exercise, which involves periodic disinfection of rooms and public places that serve as breeding spaces for infected female Anopheles mosquitoes, using WHO-recommended chemicals.

He mentioned that approximately 1.3 million people, especially children under five years, across 16 administrative districts in three regions of Ghana would benefit from these interventions.

He revealed that AGAMaL, a subsidiary of AngloGold Ashanti, was implementing different malaria control interventions in the Ashanti, Upper West, and Savannah regions.

“The National Malaria Elimination Pro­gramme targeted the most impactful tools to the highest burden areas. Upper West had the highest burden of malaria. At the time of stratification, the burden was above 45 per cent, so that’s where IRS was directed,” he explained.

The Obuasi East Municipal Health Di­rector, Ms Charity Afrifaa-Adjei, noted that the two Obuasi municipalities had the lowest malaria disease burden in the Ashanti Region, primarily due to the routine IRS interven­tions by AGAMaL, “which complements the initiatives of the National Malaria Elimination Programme.”

She added that no malaria-induced deaths were recorded in these areas last year.

Ms Afrifaa-Adjei advised the public to take the various interventions seriously to protect themselves and their children from mosquito bites, emphasising that malaria is deadly.

Mr Edmund Oduro Agyei, Community Relations Manager of AngloGold Ashanti, explained that bringing healthcare to people’s doorsteps represents an investment in creating a healthy and resilient community.

The occasion featured a donation of 200 insecticide-treated nets and 200 organic mos­quito repellents by the Underground Mining Alliance (UMA), valued at approximately GH¢70,000, to the mining company for free distribution as preventive measures.