By: Love Wilhelmina Abanonave
President John Dramani Mahama has called for a shift in global development strategies, stating that meaningful progress in health systems can only be achieved if development itself is reset first.
‘’If we are to heal our health systems, we must first reset development itself”, he said.
As part of the 80th United Nations General Assembly, President John Dramani Mahama hosted a side event themed “The Accra Reset: Reimagining Global Governance for Health and Development.”
Delivering a keynote address at the event, he highlighted key milestones in global development, noting that in 1990, 36 percent of the world’s population lived in extreme poverty, a figure that had dropped to just 8 percent by 2019. He also pointed to a significant rise in global life expectancy, which increased by nearly a decade within a single generation.
President Mahama said, more than 50 million lives have been saved through expanded access to vaccines, an achievement that underscores the importance of equitable healthcare interventions. However, President Mahama also acknowledged the setbacks the world has faced. He emphasized that the COVID-19 pandemic reversed nearly two decades of progress in reducing poverty in under two years. He pointed out that climate change has pushed nearly 735 million people back into chronic hunger.
President Mahama stressed on the need for global solidarity to rise to meet global challenges adding that, climate change had also put nearly 735 million people back into chronic hunger.
“As we celebrate these gains, the cracks in the global order keep growing deeper so the question remains, how do we sustain these gains in the face of global challenges?” President Mahama added.
