WHO, Ghana call for reforming global health governance for better systems in Africa

By Nur Asena Erturk

The World Health Organization (WHO) and Ghana on Tuesday called for reforming the global governance architecture for a better system in Africa.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told the Africa Health Sovereignty Summit in Ghana that "sudden and steep cuts to aid are now causing the most severe disruptions to health systems since the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic."

He said "health aid is projected to decline by up to 40% this year compared to just two years ago," according to the latest WHO analysis, and described the situation as “not a gradual shift, it is a cliff edge.”

Tedros, in this context, said that the "deficient Global Health architecture" must be addressed. He added that "more money alone is not enough. What's important is how effectively that money is used."

Ghanaian President John Mahama, for his part, said "the world has changed, but global health governance has not kept pace with the changing world."

"At this moment, we are called to redesign the architecture that has, for far too long, excluded Africa's voices, excluded Africa's needs," the president added.

The sharp decline in global development assistance made an immediate impact in Africa, where "maternal health programs halted, vaccine supplies delayed, and medicines disappeared from the clinical shelves," and Ghana’s community-based health delivery model (CHPS compound programs) “was brought to its knees by abrupt funding withdrawals,” President Mahama explained.

The Ghana’s head of state thus called for forming a "new health governance architecture that reflects a multi-polar, digitally interconnected" world, a system that would be "democratic," just, and "fit for the 21st century realities."

He also stressed the need for African countries to "scale up its homegrown solutions," and announced two "significant commitments."

"The first is the presidential high-level task force on global health governance … the second will be the launch of the sustained initiative, and this means scaling up sovereign transitions and institutional networks," Mahama said.

African leaders, health experts, and policymakers gathered in Ghana's capital Accra to discuss the future of health in Africa and solutions for resilient and self-sustaining health systems.