By: Sarah Baafi
President John Dramani Mahama has delivered a compelling speech emphasizing the need for Africa to take charge of its own health security and systems. Speaking on the continent’s evolving role in global health, at the opening of the World Health Expo (WHX) 2025, President Mahama pushed for a shift from being bystanders to active participants in shaping resilient health infrastructures.
He highlighted the changing “global health architecture” and the necessity to “recommence ourselves to building a future in which our own agency shapes our health security, security and health systems.” The President underscored that health systems are undergoing redesigns and supply chains rewired to adapt to new challenges posed by a “new geopolitical reality that forces every region to rethink the issue of resilience.”
Drawing attention to Africa’s burgeoning innovation scene, President Mahama noted, “Across our continent, a new generation of innovators and entrepreneurs is emerging,” with notable progress in “biotechnology, digital health, vaccine research and medical manufacturing.” He cited the African Continental Free Trade Area as a promising opportunity, calling it “the world’s largest free trade area by population, opening a new frontier for health markets and industrial expansion.”
Despite these advances, the President acknowledged persistent vulnerabilities. He said, “Consistence in inequities, fragile supply chains, limited manufacturing capacity, and insufficient investment in primary healthcare” remain significant hurdles. Reflecting on the lessons of the COVID-19 pandemic, he stated, “COVID-19 exposed these weaknesses. Africa often is the last place. Those experiences taught us a hard lesson that no continent is safe until every continent is.”
President Mahama stressed the importance of “health sovereignty,” saying it means working “not in isolation but in partnership that respects African priorities, African leadership and African expertise.” He outlined key priorities including aligning global assistance with country-led strategies, empowering Africa CDC and regional regulators, and building local capacity for vaccine, medicine, and health technology production.
He also emphasized the role of strengthening “surveillance and early warning systems and emergency preparedness” and “investing in Africa’s health workforce, the backbone of our system.” These efforts, he explained, “align squarely with Agenda 2063, the Africa CDC, new public health order and global commitments under our SDG 3.”
President Mahama called for action beyond rhetoric: “Our task now is to move from ambition to execution,” signaling a determined shift toward self-reliant and sustainable health systems for Africa’s future.
