Okyeame Kwame taking his citation on stage
For his transformative humanitarian works, Hiplife veteran Okyeame Kwame has been declared by the MTN Ghana Foundation as “the kind of celebrity Ghana needs.”
The Foundation, last Friday in Accra, honoured the rapper as its ‘Hero of Change’ for 2018, and indicated that with people like Okyeame Kwame, Ghana will be able to surmount its societal challenges.
A citation signed by the Chief Executive Officer of MTN Ghana, Mr. Ebenezer Asante, explained that aside his musical achievements, Okyeame Kwame’s humanitarian efforts needed celebration.
The citation read in part: “You are very well-known as a musician and many people celebrate you for that accomplishment. “But what most people may not know is that, you are the founder of the Okyeame Kwame Foundation which seeks to sensitize the general public on the dangers of the deadly disease, Hepatitis B.
“This makes you the kind of celebrity Ghana needs; the one who uses fame to help solve societal problems.” The rapper, real name Kwame Nsiah-Apau, has, in the past decade, dedicated enormous attention to fighting Hepatitis B in Ghana.
He partners with MDS-Lancet Laboratories and the MTN Ghana Foundation to conduct yearly public education exercises where, at least, 1000 Ghanaians are screened and vaccinated against the deadly disease free-of-charge.
Beneficiaries have come from every region in Ghana, and already, Okyeame Kwame has secured a land to build a Hepatitis B Centre in Tamale, the Northern Regional capital.
In the long-term, the Okyeame Kwame (OK) Foundation seeks to end Hepatitis B in Ghana by the year 2030, in line with World Health Organisation’s (WHO) goal.
The OK Foundation is, thus, taking steps to collaborate with the Ghana Health Service to engage unemployed public health nurses on a house-to-house free screening and vaccination.
This is only “one of the ways we intend to celebrate our tenth anniversary this year,” according to Okyeame Kwame.
“We will also organise a mammoth #Stopstigma walk from Ayi Mensah to Kitase on the Aburi Mountains in July,” he added, with details to be announced in due course.
Okyeame Kwame’s humanitarian efforts have won him several enviable awards, such as “Celebrity Philanthropist of the Year 2018” (by the National Philanthropy Forum) and “Outstanding Humanitarian Award 2017” (by Kingdom Awards).
