Asantehene: Health care and environment

Another area of importance encompassed by the vision of Otumfuo Osei Tutu II and to which he has paid great attention is health care.  It is a common saying that “a healthy nation is a prosperous nation”.  

Otumfuo Osei Tutu II has, from the beginning, recognised this and has, therefore, attached great importance to the provision of health care.  In this direction, he has spared no effort to make his people health conscious and has gone to the extent of personally leading his chiefs and people to undertake health enhancing activities.

Otumfuo has gone further to show concern, particularly for persons living with the deadly disease HIV/AIDS.  

Apart from the directives to his chiefs to involve themselves in awareness creation about HIV/AIDS, he personally promoted and supported the establishment of the Serwaa Ampem Aids Foundation for Children, a non-governmental and non-profit organisation established in 2002 with the active support and cooperation of Lady Julia Osei Tutu, wife of Otumfuo and named after his mother Nana Afia Kobi Serwaa Ampem II, Asantehemaa.

The Foundation seeks to collaborate with international agencies, as well as the private sector and individual organisations to support and care for children infected with and affected by HIV/AIDS.  It has initiated actions to link up with all the paramountcies in Asanteman.

Environmental degradation in Asanteman has been yet another source of worry to the king.  He has, on many occasions, impressed upon his chiefs and people to ensure safe environmental practices to avoid health and other major hazards likely to affect the present and future generations.  

He has strongly called for widespread collaboration in the standardisation of rules for the protection of water bodies and has personally pursued measures to discourage building in water ways and other unauthorised sites.