Meet Anthony Opoku, the 91-year-old who helped find solution to river blindness
Anthony Opoku was an entomologist who worked for the British Empire Society of the Blind in London. He was commissioned to Ghana and worked tirelessly to discover a remedy to river blindness.
Anthony Opoku is a Volta area native who traveled to London to work with Crisp for a while before moving to Sierra Leone to work with Development Co, an iron mining firm, to help remove and manage black flies.
Unfortunately, his colleague, Crisp, died unexpectedly, leaving Opoku to continue this crucial job as a contractor with numerous other organizations.
In 1969, he also collaborated with an American, Phillip C. Pierce, on a USAID project on Aquatic Weed Survey and Control Volta Lake in partnership with the National Institute of Health.
Anthony Opoku worked on reducing black flies below the Lake in Akosombo (Volta River Authority) and then as an Aerial Supervisor with the World Health Organization (WHO) Onchocerciasis Control Programme in Tamale before being relocated to Lama Kara in Togo.
During his time in Ghana, he observed that black flies, which cause river blindness, breed in fast-flowing rivers, which aided in the publishing of Crisp’s book, which is now cited in several scientific papers and articles.
When an infected individual is bitten by the female of the fly vector (Simulium dammonsum in Ghana), parasitic worms of the filaria group, Oncho-cerca volvulus, cause river blindness.
This is a widespread condition that causes excruciating itching, deformity, and eyesight loss.
After discovering black flies, which cause river blindness, Anthony Opoku created a method of curing the illness.
Ben Dotsei Malor, who was the Head of Communications and Presidential Spokesperson in the Office of the President under John Dramani Mahama, praised Anthony Opoku, 91, as a remarkable servant of Ghana.
Checkout post below: