President John Dramani Mahama has launched a High-Level Panel Report on the Accra Reset initiative in New York, calling for a new global approach to health financing that gives countries in the Global South greater control over resources and policy priorities.
The President launched the report, titled A Sovereign Future for Health, on the sidelines of the 81st United Nations General Assembly, according to a statement posted on his official Facebook page.
The report seeks to advance what President Mahama described as a “New Global Bargain” based on greater national ownership and control of health resources, stronger international cooperation and increased domestic accountability.
The President said the Accra Reset, launched a year ago, was founded on the principle that countries should not be expected to take ownership of health programmes while decisions over funding and priorities remained largely in the hands of external donors.
He said the initiative was intended to promote greater self-reliance among countries of the Global South, particularly in the financing and production of essential health commodities.
“To put it plainly, we were handed a broken cauldron and asked to own a soup cooked entirely in someone else’s kitchen,” President Mahama said.
He argued that there could be no meaningful national ownership without corresponding control over resources and production capacity. The President, however, stressed that greater sovereignty over health systems must be accompanied by stronger domestic accountability.
He cited measures under his administration’s “Resetting Ghana” agenda, including efforts to improve fiscal management, fight corruption and strengthen local industrial capacity.
According to him, Ghana’s pharmaceutical industry must be positioned to manufacture essential medicines locally rather than remain dependent on external assistance.
The report proposes three broad pillars for the new global arrangement: ownership backed by effective control over resources and production capabilities; cooperation based on human dignity and equal partnerships; and domestic accountability to ensure that public resources are used for the benefit of citizens.
President Mahama said health had been selected as the first area of focus, with particular attention to reducing maternal mortality across Sub-Saharan Africa.
He mentioned initiatives including Mother Africa and Business United for Mothers, Babies and Youth (BUMBY), which he said were intended to translate the commitments of the Accra Reset into practical interventions for women, mothers, babies and young people.
The President also expressed appreciation to former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, former Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and former Costa Rican President Laura Chinchilla, who served as members and co-chairs of the High-Level Panel, as well as other international partners involved in the initiative.
The launch at the United Nations comes as governments and international development partners confront growing debates over the sustainability of donor-dependent health systems and the ability of developing countries to finance essential health services from domestic resources.
The Accra Reset therefore seeks to place greater emphasis on national capacity, domestic financing and local production, while maintaining cooperation with international partners.
President Mahama said the initiative represented a push towards a global health system in which developing countries would have a stronger voice in determining priorities affecting their populations.
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