Football as medium to fight malaria (Back Page)

A multi-sectoral team with the aim of using football to help push the fight against malaria in Ghana has been launched in Accra.
Dubbed, ‘United Against Malaria” (UAM), the group is a partnership of football teams and heroes, celebrities, health advocacy organisations, governments, corporate bodies and individuals who have united ahead of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa to fight against malaria.
On the theme, “Opponents on the Field, United Against Malaria”, the UAM campaign will create and implement an array of activities including forming teams, broadcasting messages on malaria, engaging leadership, distributing nets and medicines and using unconventional means to attract attention and support for the fight.
Similar teams have already been formed in Mali, Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia and others such as Nigeria, Liberia, Cameroon and Guinea, have also begun to formulate their programmes to get their teams in place.
The UAM partnership with football, the world’s most popular sport, has the aim of raising global awareness and renewing worldwide commitment to ending malaria, as well as increasing the use of prevention tools and malarial treatment in Africa.
In Ghana, the period is seen as an opportune time to join forces, use the football fever and build the political and popular will needed to win the fight against the disease, which is claiming many lives.
Some of the dignitaries who attended the programme and signed up to the UAM ceremonial ball to signify their commitment to the fight against malaria, were Dr George Sipa-Adjah Yankey, the Minister of Health; Mrs Juliana Azuma Mensah, the Minister of Tourism; Professor Issabella Quarkyi, School of Public Health; Mrs Naa Norkor Dua, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Lowe Lintas, who is also the Marketing Woman of the Year 2008, and Mr Emmanuel Fiagbey of the Johns Hopkins University/Voices for a Malaria Free-Future in Ghana.
Others are Mr Kwesi Nyantakyi, the President of the Ghana Football Association (GFA); Mr Worlanyo Agrah, the acting Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the National Sports Council, who also represented Mr Rashid Pelpuo, the acting Minister of Sports, who incidentally was down with malaria; Mr Ackah Anthony, the President of the Sports Writers Association of Ghana (SWAG), some retired footballers and senior media practitioners, as well as representatives of Accra Hearts of Oak, Kumasi Asante Kotoko and Swedru All Blacks football clubs.
Addressing the participants, the Minister of Health, Dr George Sipa-Adjah Yankey, said the UAM project was of great importance and in fulfilment of the government’s decision to effectively fight malaria and eliminate it from the Ghanaian society.
He expressed delight that as the national football team, the Black Stars, geared up for action, the UAM team had come together to unite against malaria, adding that “the dream of all Ghanaians is to see our Black Stars win the World Cup one day and so is the goal of winning the fight against malaria which we can achieve in the shortest possible time if we effectively play our part”.
The minister reminded the participants that as they signed up to the UAM in Ghana, it was a decision to change the course of the disease, change the course of the country and also the course of sub-Saharan Africa where the disease killed nearly one million people each year and also $12 billion of GDP lost due to its impact.
For her part, the Minister of Tourism, Mrs Juliana Azuma Mensah, said the tourism sector could not allow malaria to scare away visitors to the country and for that reason, the ministry was prepared to do all that it could to support the fight against the disease in Ghana.
In a speech read on his behalf, the acting Minister of Youth and Sports, Mr Rashid Pelpuo, lauded the idea of using football to fight malaria, adding that “let us vouch to ourselves that every goal we score against any team we play must be a goal against malaria, for wining the fight against this disease should be a goal we can all help to achieve”.
Many of the participants gave statements to show their willingness and commitment to help in the fight against malaria.