Mahama to host Africa Health Sovereignty summit in Accra

President John Dramani Mahama is expected to host African Heads of State, policymakers, and global health stakeholders in Accra on Tuesday, August 5, 2025.

The high-level summit aims to formally adopt the Accra Initiative—a bold, action-oriented roadmap to reform global health governance and assert Africa’s leadership in shaping its health future.

The summit, under the theme “The Accra Initiative: African Health Sovereignty in a Reimagined Global Health Governance Architecture,” will serve as a platform for continental co-creation and leadership. It is expected to spark new thinking on how African countries can take charge of their health systems and play a central role in global health decision-making amidst shifting geopolitical and economic dynamics.

A statement from the Office of the President said the gathering will highlight the need to reimagine global health governance in line with today’s political and demographic realities. While acknowledging key public health successes—such as halving child mortality since 1990, reducing maternal deaths by over 40 percent since 2000, and major progress in HIV/AIDS treatment—the statement warned that these gains are under serious threat.

According to the statement, the world has seen 1.4 billion people enjoy better health due to access to clean water, sanitation, health services, and tobacco control. However, the global health system is facing new pressures from weakened multilateralism, donor fatigue, and emerging threats. These challenges, it said, have exposed structural weaknesses in a system designed for a different era.

The Accra Initiative is expected to produce several key outcomes, including the establishment of a Presidential High-Level Panel to design a new roadmap for global health architecture, endorsement of core principles such as accountability, sustainability, and inclusivity, and the launch of the SUSTAIN Initiative to support country-led, investment-driven health systems through domestic resources and partnerships.

A major highlight of the summit will be the adoption of the Accra Compact—a unified African vision for health sovereignty that calls for a more equitable global health order. The summit also builds on recent efforts led by the African Union and President Paul Kagame of Rwanda to improve coordination and financing of health services across the continent.

President Mahama’s leadership during the 2014 Ebola crisis is being referenced as an example of Africa’s ability to mobilize swift and effective regional responses in times of health emergencies.

Ahead of the summit, President Mahama noted, “Africa must take charge of its health destiny—not in isolation, but through determined, coordinated action. This Summit is our moment to lead not only in financing our systems but also in reshaping the rules that govern global health—rules that must reflect the voices and realities of our people.”

The statement, signed by Felix Kwakye Ofosu, Member of Parliament and Spokesperson to the President and Minister for Government Communications, described the summit as a defining moment in Africa’s bid to assert itself in global health leadership and forge a path toward resilient, inclusive, and sovereign health systems.