Golden Star Joins the National Malaria Programme in Promoting this Year’s World Malaria Day

In support of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG 3): End the Epidemics of Malaria and Other Diseases, Golden Star joins the National Malaria Programme and other partner organizations in promoting this year’s World Malaria Day theme “Zero malaria starts with me”.

Malaria is the single greatest cause of disease burden in Ghana and it disproportionally affects children and pregnant women. In our host communities, malaria represents around 60% of clinic attendance cases.

In Golden Star, we implement a malaria prevention program that incorporates spraying of residential areas, provision of personal protection equipment and repellents, and access to 24-hour testing and treatment at our mine site clinics.

In 2018, with the support of program partners, we shared over 5,000 long-lasting insecticide treated mosquito nets with our families and host communities. As a result of our ongoing efforts, we were recognized as a Malaria Safe Organization by Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Our programs are paying off – in 2018 our malaria case rates were less than 5.5% of clinic attendance, translating to 0.35 malaria cases per workforce capita for less than 768 days lost to malaria illness.

GSR continues to support the Malaria Control Programmes (Sustainable Development Goal (SDG 3)) with implementation of the Behaviour Change Communication Strategy on the use of insecticide-treated nets. 

This is what some employees and partners had to say:

Evelyn Gifty Bilson, HR Training & Development Coordinator

As a Golden Star malaria champion, I share malaria control measures with HR at safety meetings and coordinate the departmental malaria champions training to ensure that everyone gets involved. The initiatives taken by GSR will reduce our medical cost when it comes to malaria treatment and will reduce lost productivity. The awareness created at safety meetings, and also the involvement in the malaria eradication programme, will go a long way to get people informed about the control measures that can help prevent malaria. Going forward, I look forward to educating catchment communities on environmental cleanliness as additional measures for malaria control.

Malaria control starts with you and in your home. Defeat mosquitoes and Malaria will be no more.

Francis Sarfo, Environmental Superintendent at Bogoso Gold Mine

As a GSR employee, I have participated and benefited from the malaria prevention program that incorporates both indoor and outdoor residual spraying of residential areas, offices and work places, and the use of long-lasting insecticide treated mosquito nets. These initiatives are good for GSR and it forms part of our key measures for preventing malaria.

I look forward to becoming a champion of malaria prevention by educating the workforce and the host communities on malaria prevention measures.

Hannah Owusu Adjei, Nursing Officer, Bogoso Mine ISOS Clinic 

In view of huge financial and economic burden, which the disease poses to the operations of the company, the Health and Safety Department as well as the Community Relations Department have been implementing a number of initiatives to reduce malaria cases among its workforce. Notably, among these initiatives are employee education to create awareness on malaria, training of malaria champions in the various departments, internal residual spraying of company buildings and structures, distribution of long lasting insecticide nets, of which I was involved, and many others.

Samuel Kojo Ansah, Senior Safety Training Coordinator at Golden Star Wassa Limited

As a malaria champion, I coordinated the training of the GSR employees on malaria prevention practices and assisted with the distribution of the nets. The distribution of the nets has gone a long way to reduce the malaria cases reported in the mine. It is a great and effective initiative to prevent illness caused by malaria. 

Personally, after a bad encounter with malaria, I am supportive of the medication as well as the preventive measures recommended.

More often than not we convince ourselves that using mosquito nets are uncomfortable and expensive, forgetting the self-inflicting slaps from spending a night with mosquitoes.

Zacharia Issah, Community Affairs Superintendent at Golden Star Wassa Limited

Malaria is a very serious illness and one of the leading causes of death in children under five and pregnant women in Ghana.

Golden Star as a Malaria Safe Organization has a lot of initiatives that help reduce malaria among its workforce and dependent. Sharing of mosquito repellent to employees who work on night shift and also progressing education on malaria control practices throughout the year help in the reduction of malaria cases.

Personally, I educate employees during safety meetings and sometimes unofficially talk to the community members on what they can do as individuals to help reduce malaria cases in themselves and their families. 

Thank you Golden Star for these initiatives. 

If you'd like to find out more about Golden Star and its approach to CSR, please visit www.gsr.com/responsibility.

Balance for a Better Golden Star - Celebrating International Women's Day 2019

In celebration of International Women’s Day on March 8, 2019, the theme of this year’s campaign calls for us to “#BalanceforBetter” and work together to forge a gender-balanced world. As Golden Star recognizes the critical link between advancing the status of women and reducing the poverty burden, we aim to create equal opportunity for every member of our team.

A 2018 United Nations study (https://www.cigionline.org/articles/advancing-gender-equality-through-trade) estimated that women in developing countries could increase their farm yields by approximately 30% if they are provided with the same resources as men. This would help increase total agriculture outputs and decrease the number of people affected by hunger by 12 to 17 percent. 

At Golden Star we are confident that the same resulting benefits from increased resources for women in farming can be achieved in a number of other employment sectors. In support of this, we are focused on the empowerment of women within the organization and in our third party contractors. By providing our female team members with the same resources as their male counterparts Golden Star aims to achieve a working environment where every person has the same opportunity to succeed and live a well-balanced life. 

BALANCE FOR A BETTER GSR

For this year’s International Women’s Day we wanted to highlight women who are both directly employed by Golden Star and working as third party contractors in fields such as security, catering and gardening services. According to statistics, over 50% of Primus (GSR Catering Service Provider) workers are women with 100% of those women being from our host communities.

Golden Star encourages everyone to take responsibility in shaping a gender-balanced world through collective action and strives to ensure safe, equal and gainful employment for all members of our team.   

Gifty Asante (Primus Service Limited) 

I’m a mother of three and I also work for Primus. As a mother I have to make sure I’m well organized because it can be challenging to balance my time between work and home. As a woman it can be tough sometimes, but the fact that we are able to overcome it shows why women need to be included in every workplace. Gender balance is important for a better organization.

Gladys Ewudzie (Kruger Brent Security)

I was happy when I got a message from a friend wishing me a happy International Women’s Day this morning. I’m celebrating this day with love and pride as a single mother of three.  Now I can boast of my achievements as a mother. Being a mother goes beyond giving birth, it includes the love and affection that you show toward your family. I didn’t find it easy to give up time with my family to work at first, but when I considered the benefit for myself and my family, it is worth the sacrifice. In many ways this job has raised my self-esteem as a woman as people see me as a mentor and find inspiration in my accomplishments. 

Vivian Mahama (Primus Service Limited) 

Management is key when you want to balance your time as a mother and a career woman. When leaving home I make sure that I manage my time by sticking to my schedule for my routine at home. I don’t regret being a career woman and a mother because this job is helping me to provide for my family. As a career woman you earn the respect of your family and your community and I support the idea of a gender-balanced organization. In my field of work there are women who have higher positions than some of the men. I advise women stay hopeful as they strive to earn a living for their family. 

Lucy Lambon (Primus Service Limited) 

It’s good to have a gender-balanced organization regardless of its type as it allows people to explore their different strengths while supporting each other. As a single woman, I am happy to be working as I am not in a rush to get married. I would love to continue working and use my job as a way to take care of my family. As a woman, I am able to use my story to inspire others, especially teenage girls. Though I wasn’t able to go far in my education, that didn’t stop me from working. For me, I’m happy to be a career woman.

Matilda Koney (Kruger Brent Security)

There is a saying that “if you educate a man you educate an individual, but if you educate a woman, you educate a family”. This saying comes from a Ghanaian scholar Dr. James Emmanuel Kwegyir-Aggrey. I am so excited to be an educated woman. As a career woman and a mother, balancing my time at work and home is not very flexible. Though my mother has offered to take care of my child, I want to fulfill my role as a wife and mother on my own.  Competing with men in the workforce is quite challenging but when teamwork prevails, a lot is achieved. I wouldn’t dream of staying home, I want to continue to work to help support my family. 

Christina Kwafo, (Brosons Environmental Services)

I am a mother of three, a widower and a career woman. Having kids and working as a single mother is not an easy task. I used to be a seamstress when my husband was alive but after his loss, the sewing couldn’t cater for the family so l had to look for other means to keep the family moving. Then I got this job and I have been with this company for seven years. With hard work I have been able to help my kids at the tertiary level. Having women in the workforce is important and it allows us to contribute even more to our families. I support the idea of every woman having a career if that is what they want.

If you'd like to find out more about Golden Star and its approach to CSR, please visit www.gsr.com/responsibility.