By: Celestine Avi and Seth Eyiah
Alamein, Egypt- President John Dramani Mahama says Ghana is positioning its health sector for greater self-reliance through expanded healthcare coverage, free primary healthcare and stronger domestic capacity to produce essential health products. He says the measures form part of the government’s broader Accra Reset agenda. President Mahama was delivering a keynote address at a high-level gathering in El Alamein, Egypt.
President Mahama says Ghana’s health transformation includes strengthening access to basic healthcare while expanding the country’s capacity to produce essential health commodities locally.
“In Ghana, we are also implementing the Accra Reset by expanding the National Health Insurance Scheme, introducing the Free Primary Healthcare programme, establishing the Ghana Medical Trust, and empowering the Food and Drug Authority and the National Vaccine Institute to transition Ghana from a consumer of health products to a producer.”
He says Ghana’s experience must form part of a broader continental effort to remove the regulatory and financial barriers that limit investment in health manufacturing.
“To turn these isolated successes into a continental ecosystem, we must eliminate regulatory and financial frictions.”
The President also announced a digital initiative intended to bring together regulation, clinical validation and commercialisation, creating a more coordinated pathway for health innovators and investors.
“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 says stronger institutional coordination will also be required to track investments, enforce policy commitments and address barriers affecting regional health value chains.
“And through the Accra Reset Presidential Council, we are deploying dedicated task forces and reformed interlock observatories to track capital flows, enforce policy commitments, and dismantle non-tariff barriers across regional value chains.”
The President says these measures are intended to strengthen Ghana’s health system while positioning the country to play a greater role in Africa’s emerging health and pharmaceutical value chain.
