The Gold Fields Ghana Foundation (GFGF), Tarkwa Nsuaem and Prestea Huni-Valley Municipal Assembly, together with the Municipal Health Directorates, have commemorated the 2026 World Malaria Day with a forum.

The event brought together communities, queen mothers, assembly members, unit committee members, and Water and Sanitation (WATSAN) committee members.

Some school children from the Mines host communities were also present to listen to discussions on malaria prevention.

“Drive to End Malaria: Now We Can. Now We Must.” Was the theme for this year’s celebration?

Speaking at the function in Tarkwa, Mr. Abdel-Razak Yakubu, Executive Secretary of GFGF, said Gold Fields, through its foundation, committed GH¢320,000.00 for this year’s World Malaria Day celebration and all the related activities.

He said this year, they would have a lot of radio programmes to create awareness, and follow up with additional donations and more education sessions.

Mr. Yakubu added that they would carry out more education to show residents that malaria was not a minor illness they could ignore, but a deadly condition that needed to be taken seriously.

He said they had purchased weed slashers and donated them to the WATSAN Committees in their communities to clear overgrown weeds during communal labour.

The executive secretary said they were excited to partner with these institutions to create awareness and reduce the malaria prevalence rate in Tarkwa Nsuaem and Prestea Huni-Valley Municipalities.

Mrs. Wilhemina Tiwaah Duah Morttey, Tarkwa Nsuaem Municipal Health Director, said that each year, the Ghana Health Service and the Municipal Health Directorate collaborated with GFGF to sensitize the public on malaria.

According to her, one key highlight of this year’s activities was the environmental aspect that had been added to their awareness creation.

She said they were also doing lava source management and other interventions, stressing that all these efforts would speed up their progress towards eliminating malaria.

Mrs. Morttey urged citizens to maintain clean surroundings to eliminate breeding sites for mosquitoes, adding,g “when we control the vector that spreads the parasite from person to person, then we break the transmission”.

The Municipal Director expressed gratitude to the GFGF for their continued support of the directorate in the fight against malaria over the years.