KCCR gets support from AGA staff

Anglogold Ashanti Ghana through voluntary contributions from its female employees has presented a cheque for GH¢30,000 to the Kumasi Center For Collaborative Research towards Breast and Prostrate Cancer research.

Making the donation on behalf of staff and management of the company, the Human Resource Superintendent in charge of Staffing and Line Support, Hilda Arhin, said the donation forms part of the Sustainable Development Strategy to continually contribute to the health and wellbeing of the people of Obuasi and the nation.

Under the theme ‘BOOBS and BALLS’, Ms Arhin said the initiative started last year when they made a donation of GH₵27,277.40 to the Noguchi Memorial Research Institute of Medical Research to support their research on cancer.

She mentioned that the outbreak of the coronavirus disease dealt a hefty blow to their campaign to create awareness on breast cancer and prostate cancer this year but they have devised innovative ways to reach out to communities to educate them on the diseases.

On the rationale behind the donation, the HR Superintendent said: “The money is expected to help KCCR conduct more research into early detection methods, treatment options as well as campaigns on Prostate and Breast cancer diseases.”

Scientific Director of KCCR Professor Richard Odame Philips, after receiving the cheque, thanked Anglogold Ashanti for the gesture.

He said the money will assist KCCR to provide equipment and molecular facilities to enable them undertake more research into the two diseases.

He conceded that though efforts have been made to deal with prostate and breast cancer, there is still more work to be done by all stakeholders.

He called for the establishment of more research facilities across the country to be able to meet the needs of the communities with respect to breast and prostate cancer.

KCCR is a joint venture between the Ministry of Health (MoH), Ghana, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi, and the Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine (BNITM), Hamburg, Germany.

It acts as an international platform for biomedical research in tropical medicine.