PRESIDENT John Dramani Mahama has warned that millions of lives across Africa are at risk as global health funding continues to decline.
He said the cuts in international health aid programmes could have catastrophic consequences for vulnerable populations across the continent and the world at large.
Delivering the keynote address at the 79th World Health Assembly (WHA) of the World Health Organisation (WHO) in Geneva, Switzerland, yesterday, President Mahama noted that global humanitarian assistance has declined by about 40 per cent.
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Providing context to the situation, he said Ghana lost US$78 million following the closure of the USAID programme, affecting malaria interventions, maternal and child healthcare, nutrition, HIV/AIDS testing, and the delivery of antiretroviral drugs.
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He said in South Africa for instance, the abrupt withdrawal of PEPFAR funding shuttered clinics, terminated gender-based violence programmes, and left 1.4 million people living with HIV uncertain about their treatment continuity.
"We are told that by 2030, nine million preventable deaths could occur due to these shifts. 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," President Mahama noted.
In this regard, he said the existing system of donor dependency was not sustainable as he called for a new era of health sovereignty across Africa.
"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 is past its sell-by date. We are witnessing the end of an era, and we must have the courage to build the next one."
Urging his colleagues to build resilient healthcare systems capable of financing core health functions, he said the desire to materialise that new era imposes responsibilities on them as leaders.
"We must see health spending as an investment rather than just a social obligation. A healthy population is indispensable to economic progress," President Mahama stated.
Sharing Ghana's story towards health sovereignty, he said the country has moved beyond rhetoric to implement calculated, aggressive policies that place the citizen at the centre of the clinical encounter including the free primary health care programme and the Ghana Medical Trust Fund amongst others.
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As the Assembly considers a proposal for a joint process to reform the global health architecture, he advocated that "If we launch a reform process that is prohibited from recommending actual reform, we are merely performing a ritual. We cannot prioritise institutional comfort over human survival".
He made a three-prong demand of the Assembly in its deliberations.
"First, do 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, invest in execution. The world does not need more communiqués; it needs deal rooms, local factories, and resilient supply chains.
"Third, 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."
