KEY POINTS
- Health aid to Africa is projected to drop 40 percent.
- Obasanjo calls for an African health fund.
- Summit urges a break from aid dependency.
As donor aid to Africa’s health systems declines, an increasing number of African leaders are advocating for innovative, domestic solutions.
At a high-level health sovereignty summit in Accra on Tuesday, former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo and Ghana’s President John Mahama urged a pivot away from foreign dependence, proposing a continental health fund financed through taxes on airline passengers and domestic innovations.
Health leaders push for funding sovereignty
Obasanjo’s message was blunt: “Africa needs health without aid.” Mahama echoed his appeal, saying the continent needs to rethink its healthcare financing system while it is experiencing a confluence of crises, from pandemics and war to economic unrest.
The establishment of an African health fund under the African Development Bank, backed by a tax on visitors arriving in the continent, is a crucial proposal. In order to guarantee that African perspectives continue to influence international policy, Mahama also announced the establishment of a Presidential Task Force on Global Health Governance.
Mahama also announced a health tool named SUSTAIN, which is being rolled out to assist governments in identifying all their domestic and international sources of health funding, identifying gaps, and planning for sustainability.
SUSTAIN (an acronym for Scaling Up Sovereign Transitions and Institutional Networks) will also assist countries to mobilise funding from the private sector, philanthropic partners, and the African diaspora, said Mahama.
Focus on health sovereignty amid donor retreat
According to Health Policy Watch, Tedros Adhanom, the director general of the WHO, issued a warning, stating that millions of people are going without care because of aid shortages and that vital medications are rotting in warehouses.
Tedros said aid to Africa may drop by as much as 40% this year, and illicit financial flows cost the continent $90 billion a year, which is significantly more than the $74 billion it received in 2023. He called on African countries to improve domestic medicine production, tighten public financial management systems to cut down on budget waste, and increase health funds through taxes on sugar, alcohol, and tobacco.
Citing WHO data that shows a $4 return for every $1 spent on resilience, Mahama emphasised that funding health should be reframed as an investment rather than a cost. “Africa needs to abandon antiquated ideas and enter a new era of self-funded healthcare,” he stated.
