President Mahama Calls for Health Sovereignty at World Health Assembly

President John Dramani Mahama has issued a powerful call for African health sovereignty, urging a fundamental reform of the global health architecture as traditional donor funding dwindles and multilateralism faces unprecedented strain.

Speaking on Monday at the 79th World Health Assembly in Geneva, President Mahama declared that the era of donor dependency must give way to a new era of self-reliance, warning that the current system is no longer fit for purpose.

“We are witnessing the end of an era, and we must have the courage to build the next one,” he told delegates, including Swiss Federal Councillor Elizabeth Bom Schneider, World Health Assembly President Dr. Victor Atala Lajam, and WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

President Mahama painted a stark picture of the global health landscape six years after the COVID-19 pandemic.

He noted that humanitarian assistance has declined by 40 percent, major Western economies have slashed overseas development assistance, and the WHO’s budget has been severely gutted by the withdrawal of United States funding, forcing program cuts and staff retrenchments.

In Ghana, he said, health financing from bilateral and multilateral partners has significantly decreased since 2025, with the country losing $78 million in health funding following the closure of US aid programmes. Those funds had supported malaria control, maternal and child health, nutrition, and HIV services including anti-retroviral drug delivery.

In South Africa, the abrupt withdrawal of PEPFAR funding has shut clinics, terminated gender-based violence programmes, and left 1.4 million people living with HIV uncertain about treatment continuity.

“It is estimated that the direct consequences of this aid suspension could push about 5.7 million Africans into poverty by the end of 2026,” he warned.

Against this backdrop, the President recalled the convening of the African Health Sovereignty Conference – known as the Accra Reset – in August 2025. He described the movement as a conviction that “the old paradigms of dependence must give way to a new era of health sovereignty.”

“These cuts in humanitarian assistance and ODA, as painful as they are, serve as the final clear signal that the old system of donor dependency has passed its sell-by date,” he said.

President Mahama emphasized that health sovereignty must be demonstrated practically at home. He outlined several key achievements in Ghana under his administration:

Ghana has successfully begun implementing a free primary healthcare programme, removing financial barriers for citizens in the remotest regions, with an emphasis on preventive care. The WHO was among the first to congratulate Ghana on this milestone.

· NHIS Revitalization: The cap on the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS) fund has been removed, freeing up an additional GH¢3 billion (approximately $300 million) for healthcare investment. Digital tools, including AI, are being used to detect fraudulent claims, and prompt refunds to service providers have been prioritized.

· Mahama Cares (Ghana Medical Trust Fund): A lifeline for patients suffering from non-communicable diseases such as cancers, cardiovascular conditions, liver disease, and renal failure – conditions that were previously a death sentence for the poor.

· Gavi Transition: Ghana is on track to exit Gavi funding for vaccines by 2030 and hopes to transition into a donor in the near future.

President Mahama, as a leader of the Accra Reset initiative, outlined three operational pillars to move beyond rhetoric:

“First, let us not let reform be a ceiling. If we are to fix the system, we must be brave enough to look at institutional mandates and mergers without fear.”

“Second, let us invest in execution. The world does not need more communiqués; it needs deal rooms, local factories, and resilient supply chains.”

“Third, let us measure success by the clinic, not the conference. The only metric that matters is whether a child in the global south has a reasonable chance of survival as a child in the global north.”

President Mahama acknowledged the contributions of WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros and thanked him for his leadership. He ended with an African proverb: “One who plants a tree does not always sit in its shade.”

“The reforms we are discussing today are for the generations we may never meet. And yet let our seriousness today be the shade they will rest in tomorrow.”

Ghana has committed GH¢34 billion ($3.4 billion) to health in its 2026 budget, expanding coverage to 20 million citizens.

“We are not lecturing from theory,” the President said. “We are building the evidence of what a sovereign health system should look like.”

Story by Linda Asare