President John Dramani Mahama has unveiled a bold new framework aimed at reshaping global health governance and reducing Africa’s dependence on foreign-controlled healthcare systems.
Speaking at the 79th World Health Assembly on Monday, May 18, President Mahama said countries in the Global South must be empowered to finance their own healthcare systems, manufacture essential medicines and manage health data independently if they are to build resilient health sectors.
According to him, the current global health structure has placed excessive administrative burdens on developing countries, with many health ministers spending more time preparing donor reports than strengthening primary healthcare delivery in their own countries.
He argued that the international system has wrongly equated the growth in health institutions with actual improvement in healthcare outcomes, insisting that the multiplication of organisations does not necessarily translate into meaningful impact for vulnerable populations.
To address the challenge, President Mahama announced the implementation of “Accra Reset,” an initiative backed by a Presidential Council of leaders from the Global South to push for practical reforms in global health governance and financing.
He explained that the initiative will operate through three key pillars, including a High-Level Panel on Reform made up of independent global experts tasked with scrutinising the current global health architecture.
Another pillar, the Reform Interlocking Observatory, is expected to coordinate the strategies of major international health institutions such as the World Health Organisation, GAVI and the Global Fund to prevent policy conflicts at the local level.
The third pillar is the Health Investment National Gateway (HINGE), which is intended to serve as an implementation engine that converts political commitments into concrete, bankable investments in local pharmaceutical production, bioinnovation, and broader health system strengthening.
The initiative, he said, is intended to position African countries to take greater control of their healthcare systems and reduce long-standing dependence on external support.
