President John Dramani Mahama has called for an unprecedented scale of public–private partnerships to address Africa’s deepening health challenges, warning that the continent cannot achieve health sovereignty or equitable care without sustained investment in diagnostics, infrastructure, innovation, and manufacturing.
He delivered the charge at the opening of the World Health Expo (WHX) in Accra, held under the theme “Catalysing Africa’s Health Revolution through Investment, Innovation, Impact, and Infrastructure”.
Speaking to African health ministers, development partners, private sector leaders, and innovators, President Mahama said Africa’s health future depends on the continent’s ability to modernise healthcare systems, build resilient supply chains, and strengthen specialised care. Using examples from Ghana’s own system, he stressed that the sustainability of advanced medical equipment and specialised services is impossible without private sector participation.
He recounted recent findings from the Ghana Medical Trust Fund, a national mechanism financed with 2.1 billion cedis to support specialised medical care. Despite the availability of funds for treatment, Mahama said the Fund discovered widespread non-functional diagnostic equipment across public hospitals, including MRIs, CT scanners, and cancer treatment machines.
“There are no diagnostics equipments. MRIs are broken down. CT scans are broken down,” he said, adding that the problem forces patients to travel long distances or rely on private facilities to access even basic imaging services. “It’s not acceptable that you live or die depending on which part of Ghana you live in.”
Mahama cited the case of an assemblyman who was forced to relocate his family to Kumasi for dialysis twice a week, eventually dying impoverished after selling all his assets to afford treatment. Such realities, he said, demonstrate why governments alone cannot sustain critical health infrastructure.
“PPPs are not optional anymore. They are a must,” he emphasised. “The private sector is better at delivering and maintaining those services than the government sector.”
He said Ghana will now invest in diagnostic and treatment facilities only through public–private partnerships to avoid repeating failures of past infrastructure investments, insisting that the same approach is needed across Africa.
Turning to the wider continental landscape, Mahama said Africa stands at a defining moment as global health systems undergo major realignments. While the continent has seen progress in biotechnology, digital health, vaccine research, and medical manufacturing, persistent weaknesses, fragile supply chains, limited primary healthcare investment, and manufacturing gaps, continue to leave Africa vulnerable.
“COVID-19 exposed these weaknesses dramatically,” he said. “In moments of global crisis, Africa often is the last to receive support.”
He argued that Africa’s pathway forward must prioritise health sovereignty anchored in African-led strategies, stronger institutions such as the Africa CDC and AMA, and investment in vaccine, medicine, diagnostic, and technology manufacturing on the continent. He urged global partners to align support with Africa’s priorities rather than impose external agendas.
President Mahama also detailed three pillars of Ghana’s health transformation agenda:
- The Ghana Medical Trust Fund (MahamaCare): A flagship financing mechanism to support high-cost treatment, specialised care, and chronic disease management.
- Universal Free Primary Healthcare: A nationwide programme that will expand community health services, digital health, prevention, and early detection.
- Retooling and Modernising Health Infrastructure through PPPs: Including advanced imaging, diagnostics, dialysis, laboratory upgrades, and resilient supply chains.
“These three pillars form the backbone of Ghana’s health transformation agenda and our contribution to the broader African sovereign health ecosystem,” he said.
Mahama called on vaccine manufacturers, pharmaceutical firms, diagnostics companies, biotech investors, DFIs, private equity funds, and venture capital firms to commit capital and technology to Africa’s health industrialisation. He said the conditions for investment are stronger than ever, supported by the African Continental Free Trade Area’s 1.3 billion-person market and a growing innovation ecosystem.
“The table is set. The opportunity is enormous. And the moment is now,” he declared.
In a message to health workers, researchers, and young innovators across the continent, Mahama said Africa’s health revolution will be built through their ingenuity, resilience, and leadership.
“A healthier Africa will be a more prosperous Africa,” he said. “What remains is to forge the partnerships that believe, as we do, that Africa’s rise is integral to global progress.”
He concluded by urging the WHX Summit to produce concrete commitments, not just declarations, “Let this summit be remembered not for discussions, but for commitments… not for intentions, but for investments… not for aspirations, but for implementation.”
