President John Dramani Mahama has launched the High-Level Panel Report of the Accra Reset, titled A Sovereign Future for Health, on the sidelines of the 81st United Nations General Assembly in New York.
The report, according to Mahama, marks a significant step in efforts to promote greater self-reliance and control over health financing and production in countries across the Global South.
In a statement shared on Facebook, the President said the Accra Reset challenges the long-standing dependence of developing countries on foreign donor support for critical health programmes.
“One year ago, through the Accra Reset, we rejected the idea that the health, dignity, and future of our people should remain perpetually tied to foreign donor magnanimity,” he said.
Mahama argued that although developing countries have often been encouraged to take ownership of their health programmes, key decisions on financing and priorities have frequently remained in the hands of external institutions.
“To put it plainly, we were handed a broken cauldron and asked to own a soup cooked entirely in someone else’s kitchen,” he said.
He stressed that genuine ownership must come with control over resources, priorities and production capabilities.
“Today, through the Accra Reset, we declare unequivocally that there can be NO ownership without control,” President Mahama stated.
Accountability
The President, however, acknowledged that greater sovereignty must be accompanied by stronger domestic accountability.
He said Ghana’s Resetting Ghana Agenda is focused on strengthening fiscal management, fighting corruption and developing local industrial capacity.
According to him, Ghana also wants to increase domestic pharmaceutical production so that essential medicines can be manufactured locally rather than relying heavily on foreign assistance.
The report proposes what Mahama described as a “New Global Bargain” based on three key principles: ownership supported by meaningful control over resources and production, cooperation grounded in human dignity and equal partnerships, and domestic accountability to ensure public resources benefit citizens.
Focus on maternal mortality
President Mahama said health has been selected as the first major area of focus under the Accra Reset, with particular attention to maternal mortality across Sub-Saharan Africa.
He cited initiatives including Mother Africa and Business United for Mothers, Babies and Youth (BUMBY) as part of efforts to translate the commitments into practical protection for mothers, babies and young people.
The President expressed gratitude to the initiative’s “Guardians’ Circle,” naming former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, former Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and former Costa Rican President Laura Chinchilla.
He also thanked the High-Level Panel Co-Chairs and international partners for what he described as their continued commitment to the initiative.
Mahama said the Accra Reset ultimately seeks to reshape the relationship between countries of the Global South and their international partners by promoting greater domestic capacity, accountability and control over development priorities.
