President John Dramani Mahama has called for bold reforms to reshape the global health system, urging world leaders and health stakeholders to move beyond discussions and commit to practical actions that strengthen healthcare delivery, particularly in developing countries.
Addressing delegates at the 79th World Health Assembly in Geneva, President Mahama said the existing global health architecture, established in the aftermath of an earlier era, was under strain and required urgent transformation to respond effectively to present and future health challenges.
“The old global health order built in the aftermath of a different century is stuttering. But a new order is rising,” he stated.
He said the emerging health order must be driven by “agency, not aid” and “partnership, not paternalism”, stressing that countries in the Global South must have greater ownership and participation in shaping global health priorities.
President Mahama used the platform to make what he described as three key appeals to the international community.
His first call was for more ambitious reforms, cautioning against allowing ongoing reforms to become limited in scope.
“Let us not let reform be a ceiling,” he said.
“If we are to fix the system, we must be brave enough to look at institutional mandates and measures without fear.”
The President noted that meaningful reforms would require courage and a willingness to reassess long-standing structures and systems within global health governance.
Secondly, he called for increased investment in implementation and execution, arguing that global health progress would not be achieved through declarations alone.
“The world does not need more communiqués. It needs deal rooms, local factories and resilient supply chains,” he stated.
He emphasised the need to strengthen local manufacturing capacity, build sustainable health systems, and improve supply chains to enhance healthcare delivery and preparedness.
President Mahama further urged the global community to redefine how success in healthcare was measured, saying impact should be judged by outcomes at healthcare facilities and among vulnerable populations rather than by international meetings and policy documents.
“Let us measure success by the clinic, not the conference,” he said.
“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.”
He highlighted persistent inequalities in healthcare access and outcomes between developed and developing nations, calling for collective action to bridge the gap.
The President also underscored the human dimension of global health reforms, drawing attention to the realities faced by many women and families in underserved communities.
He said the reforms under discussion should ultimately benefit people whose lives depended on improved healthcare systems, particularly mothers and children in vulnerable settings.
“It is being built for the mother in the Global South who, even as we speak this morning, will be delivering her child under the light of a lamp tonight,” he noted.
Invoking an African proverb, President Mahama said: “In Africa, we have a saying that one who plants the tree does not always sit in its shade.”
He added that the decisions and reforms being discussed today were intended to benefit future generations.
“The reforms we are discussing today are for generations we may never meet. And yet, let our seriousness today be the shade they will rest in tomorrow,” he stated.
President Mahama concluded by expressing appreciation to Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and the World Health Organization for their leadership and partnership.
He thanked the Assembly for the opportunity to participate as a special guest and reaffirmed Ghana’s commitment to advancing global health cooperation and equitable healthcare systems.
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