By Savannah Pokuaah Duah
Deputy Chief of Staff, Administration of Ghana, Nana Oye Bampoe Addo, has revealed that President John Dramani Mahama is spearheading a global initiative to redefine Africa’s place in the global healthcare landscape. Known as the Accra Initiative, the effort seeks to increase domestic investment in health and ensure Africans are central to shaping healthcare systems across the continent.
Drawing on historical context, Addo likened the initiative to past efforts led by former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, who played a key role in Africa’s response to the HIV/AIDS crisis.
“If you recall, when a few decades ago, when we had Ghana President Obasanjo started a similar initiative, and it transitioned into the Global Fund that has really helped in supporting interventions across Africa and across the world to address HIV,” Addo said.
The Accra Initiative is set to begin tomorrow, with the formation of a presidential task force to ensure the reimagining and restructuring of global health systems remains a top priority. The initiative will also feature prominently at the upcoming UN General Assembly, where its scope will expand to include countries from South America, Asia, and other regions.
Addo stressed that the current global governance framework for health is no longer fit for purpose:
“The governance structure for health served us five, six decades ago. It served us, but now we have a changed face of health in Africa. And we need to re-imagine this structure so that it suits the purposes of addressing healthcare in this era,” she said.
The ultimate goal of the initiative, she noted, is to guarantee every African access to basic and adequate healthcare — a vision that can only be realised when Africans themselves are leading or significantly influencing healthcare decisions and structures.
