African Leaders Rally in Accra to Assert Health Sovereignty at High-Level Summit

In a landmark push to assert Africa’s leadership in global health, Ghana is hosting a high-level summit in Accra aimed at promoting African-led solutions to the continent’s pressing health challenges.

The summit, themed “The Accra Initiative: African Health Sovereignty in a Re-imagined Global Health Governance Architecture,” has drawn a powerful gathering of African leaders, former presidents, health ministers, and global health stakeholders.

Delivering a keynote on behalf of President John Dramani Mahama, Ghana’s Chief of Staff, Julius Debrah, underscored the urgency for Africa to shift from the sidelines of global health policymaking to the center of its own destiny.

“Our hard-won gains, from maternal and child health to pandemic preparedness, are under threat,” Debrah said, citing declining donor support and shifting geopolitical dynamics. “The current global health architecture, designed in another era, no longer meets Africa’s realities.”

Debrah described the summit as a working platform, not a ceremonial event. Key goals include reviewing the global health landscape, endorsing the SUSTAIN Framework, an African-driven health reform mechanism, and establishing a Presidential Task Force to draft a time-bound blueprint for reforming global health governance.

“This summit is a call to reimagine health governance through African leadership,” Debrah emphasized. “We are no longer passive participants. We are the authors of our reforms, the investors in our systems, and equal partners to the world.”

He stressed that the outcomes must go beyond declarations and translate into actionable policies, influencing decision-making from national capitals to platforms like the African Union and the UN General Assembly.

“This is our moment to turn dialogue into design and vision into action,” he concluded. “Let us leave Accra with bold outcomes that safeguard the health and dignity of our people.”

The summit continues with expert sessions focused on positioning Africa as a key architect of a fair, resilient, and inclusive global health system.

By Bawa Musah