By Ashiadey Dotse
President John Dramani Mahama has called for a major transformation in global health governance, urging African countries to take full control of their healthcare future by designing systems that reflect their own needs, innovations, and priorities.
Speaking at the African Health Sovereignty (ASH) Summit in Accra on Tuesday, August 5, 2025, the President stressed that Africa must move from being a passive recipient of aid to becoming an active architect of its own health destiny.
“Africa must no longer be the patient. It must be the driver, the author, the architect, and the advocate of its own health destiny,” Mahama declared during his keynote address.
The summit comes amid growing global crises, from wars and pandemics to economic shocks and deepening inequality, which Mahama said have exposed weaknesses in existing health systems and global health governance.
“The world has changed, but global health governance has not kept pace. This is a moment for us to redesign the architecture that has, for far too long, excluded Africa’s voices, needs, and innovations,” he said.
President Mahama noted that while Africa has made significant progress in child and maternal health, access to medicines, and expanded health coverage through partnerships, those gains are now under threat.
“In 2023, development assistance declined sharply, and Africa felt the shock immediately. Maternal health programmes were halted, vaccine supplies delayed, and essential medicines disappeared from shelves. In Ghana, our CHPS compounds were brought to their knees,” he explained.
He emphasized that this was not just a funding issue but a “crisis of imagination” and a “failure of shared responsibility.” Without urgent reforms, he warned, health systems across Africa would continue to struggle.
The President urged African countries to lead with purpose and reclaim sovereignty over their health systems. He reminded the summit that African leadership has historically played key roles in global health responses, from HIV/AIDS and Ebola to COVID-19.
“Let us remember, when HIV ravaged our continent, it was African leaders who catalysed the response. During Ebola, leaders in West Africa became the moral compass of the world. And during COVID-19, Africa stood up and demanded vaccine justice.”
Highlighting Ghana’s progress, Mahama announced the launch of MahamaCare, a sovereign health innovation fund to tackle chronic diseases like hypertension, diabetes, and kidney failure. He shared the real-life story of Acacia, a young mother in Odumase who survived childbirth complications thanks to a digitally linked CHPS compound.
“This is not a vision of the future; it is our present reality. We are not only reacting to emergencies, we are building systems that create jobs, reduce inequalities, and uphold human dignity,” he said.
President Mahama also unveiled two key initiatives:
A high-level task force on global health governance, aimed at redesigning outdated systems to reflect today’s realities.
The SUSTAIN Initiative, an African-led platform to align national budgets with health priorities, attract sovereign and philanthropic investment, and promote accountability.
He called on African finance ministers and development partners to treat health as a capital investment rather than a cost, citing World Health Organization data that shows every dollar invested in health yields up to four dollars in productivity.
“Health is the engine of productivity. It is the currency of our dignity. It is our greatest public good,” Mahama stated. “We must reject the outdated notion that health drains our economies.”
He concluded his address with a passionate call to action:
“Africa’s pain is not a deficit; it is a death of perspective. Our healing is not a plea, it is a rallying cry for sovereignty. Let us reset the moral compass of global health and own our future. From Accra, let the world hear us: let Africa rise.”
