Mahama urges African leaders to secure continent's health sovereignty

President John Dramani Mahama urged African leaders and global health executives in his opening remarks at the African Union Extraordinary Health Summit in Accra to secure the continent's health sovereignty through investment in health infrastructure, pharmaceutical and vaccine production. He stated, "The fight for liberation today is against another kind of oppressor, one that is more subtle, yet no less dangerous."

The two-day summit, themed "Advancing Justice, Equity and Universal Health Coverage: Ending AIDS, TB, Improving Maternal Health, Addressing Endemic Non-Communicable and Neglected Tropical Diseases and Conditions in Africa," brought together African Heads of State, including African Union Chairperson President Évariste Ndayishimiye of Burundi, President Samia Suluhu Hassan of Tanzania, and President Romuald Wadagni of Benin. Also in attendance was Mr Mahamoud Ali Youssouf, the Chairperson of the African Union Commission. The summit seeks to galvanise political commitment and accelerate collective action to end AIDS and tuberculosis by 2030, reduce preventable maternal and child deaths, tackle the growing burden of communicable and non-communicable diseases, and strengthen resilient health systems across the continent. President Mahama noted that 68 years after Ghana's first President Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah gathered freedom movements in Accra in December 1958, leaders of African nations had returned to Accra at another consequential moment.