* Speaking at the opening of the African Union's Extraordinary Summit on Universal Health Coverage and ending AIDS in Accra, Mahama invoked the 25-year-old Abuja Declaration, in which African nations pledged to allocate at least 15 per cent of national budgets to health

ACCRA, Ghana - President John Dramani Mahama has called on African heads of state to significantly increase domestic healthcare funding, warning that the continent's reliance on foreign aid has become an unsustainable and urgent vulnerability.

Speaking at the opening of the African Union's Extraordinary Summit on Universal Health Coverage and ending AIDS in Accra, Mahama invoked the 25-year-old Abuja Declaration, in which African nations pledged to allocate at least 15 per cent of national budgets to health. That commitment, he said, has largely gone unmet.

"We must move from promises into measurable actions," Mahama told delegates. "Let's not treat healthcare as an expense, but as a high-return economic investment. Prevention repays us ninefold."

The president cited figures showing global health aid to Africa fell sharply from $49.6 billion to just over $39.1 billion in a single year even as many African nations still depend on external donors to cover nearly half of their health budgets. He described the trend as a direct threat to the continent's public health stability.

"Let each of us bring the Ministry of Finance to the health table and keep it seated right at that table," Mahama said, arguing that resilient health systems cannot be built on rhetoric alone but require binding financial commitments.

Mahama pointed to Ghana's own efforts under the "Accra Reset" Initiative aimed at insulating essential health services from global funding shocks. As an example, he referenced the Ghana Medical Trust Fund (Mahama Cares), which is designed to shield families from catastrophic medical expenses through domestic resource mobilisation.

President Mahama argued that true "health sovereignty" requires finance ministries across the continent to become full partners in health investment, ensuring that African resources, not foreign aid, drive African health priorities for the long term.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of The Presidency, Republic of Ghana.