By: Celestine Avi and Seth Eyiah
President John Dramani Mahama has announced the introduction of the Health Investment and National Gateway Enabler (HINGE), a digital platform designed to streamline regulation, clinical validation and commercialisation for health innovators and investors across Africa.
President Mahama said HINGE is intended to help remove regulatory and financial barriers that continue to constrain investment in Africa’s health and pharmaceutical sectors.
Delivering a keynote address at the 8th African Union Mid-Year Coordination Summit in El Alamein, Egypt, President Mahama said the platform is being developed in collaboration with the African Medicines Agency, Institut Pasteur and Afrochampions to create a more coordinated pathway for innovators and investors seeking to develop and commercialise health products.
He said the initiative forms part of efforts to build a stronger continental health ecosystem capable of supporting local manufacturing, attracting investment and reducing Africa’s dependence on imported medicines and vaccines.
“Developed with the African Medicines Agency, Institut Pasteur, Afrochampions, HINGE will become a digital platform that streamlines regulations, clinical validation, and commercialization into a unified process for innovators and investors,” President Mahama said.
He further noted that regulatory fragmentation and financial constraints remain major obstacles to the development of competitive health industries across the continent.
President Mahama also linked the HINGE initiative to the broader Accra Reset agenda, saying dedicated task forces and reformed mechanisms would be deployed through the Accra Reset Presidential Council to track capital flows, enforce policy commitments and address non-tariff barriers affecting regional value chains.
He stressed that governments alone cannot finance Africa’s transition towards greater health security and self-reliance, calling for stronger participation from private capital, industrial developers, commercial banks and sovereign funds.
The President said coordinated investment, stronger regulatory systems and deeper regional cooperation would be critical to transforming Africa’s health sector and creating the conditions for sustainable pharmaceutical and healthcare manufacturing.
He urged African countries and private-sector stakeholders to seize the opportunity to build an integrated health investment ecosystem that can support innovation, strengthen supply chains and advance the continent’s quest for health sovereignty.
