At the opening of the Africa Health Sovereignty Summit in Accra on August 6, 2025, Ghana’s Minister of Health, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, delivered a powerful appeal for unprecedented investment across the continent’s health sector to bolster collective security and well-being.
He challenged delegates to “build a future where our investment, innovation, and integrity secure the well-being of our children,” framing this endeavour as a moral imperative anchored in the conviction that Africa not only deserves superior health outcomes but possesses the unity and resourcefulness to achieve them independently.
Rejecting familiar pledges and rote declarations, Honorable Akandoh explained that the Accra initiative transcends a static compact, instead embodying “a living, evolving commitment that brings endeavours, inviting us to work together step-by-step, altering our own story and shaping the future on our own terms”.
At the heart of his address lay a nuanced definition of health sovereignty—“the power to make binding decisions, to deploy our own resources, and to lead the systems that determine whether our people live or die”—a direct counterpoint to decades of external influence that shaped budgets more by donor ceilings than by genuine public need.
“ African problems demand African solutions and the courage to courage to measure ourselves against our own standards ”
Minister Akandoh emphasized that health must cease to be treated as a charitable afterthought, insisting that “when health is financed wisely, it always pays for itself in increased productivity, stability, and improved quality of life,” a principle that demands parity with other sectors such as education and infrastructure in national budgets.
True partnership, he asserted, is founded on mutual respect and shared leadership rather than dependency, envisioning African experts “present not only in the waiting room, but in the operating theater, designing, leading, and owning our health future,” and thereby redressing entrenched inequities in global health governance roles.
Highlighting infrastructure imperatives, Akandoh urged sweeping investment in robust data architectures and autonomous supply chains, stating that “health sovereignty also meant investing in strong data systems so our realities are truly reflected” and that “it means supply chain sovereignty” to ensure resources reach every community effectively.
Concluding his address with a clarion call against empty rhetoric, the Minister urged participants to forge “fierce, actionable commitments” rather than polished statements, reminding all that “this summit is not a mere meeting. It is a living initiative” capable of continuously reshaping Africa’s health governance through shared learning and open challenge.
As delegates return to their capitals, the challenge set by Minister Akandoh is unmistakable: to transform this visionary blueprint into concrete policy reforms, strategic budget reallocations, and collaborative programmes that place African leadership at the helm of the continent’s health destiny—an ambition that promises to redefine global health governance and secure equitable, sustainable care for generations to come.
Source: https://www.gbcghanaonline.com/news/health/health-minister-5/2025/
