The Minister of Health, , has urged African countries to take bold and deliberate steps toward achieving health sovereignty.
Speaking at the African Health Sovereignty Summit on Tuesday, August 5, 2025, the Minister criticised the continent's longstanding dependency on donor aid and external health interventions. "We are here to re-imagine and co-create a future where Africa owns its health destiny, where the care of African lives does not depend on goodwill from afar, but on wisdom, solidarity, and investment from within," he stated.
He explained that health sovereignty is not about detachment from the global community, but about strengthening Africa's capacity and leadership in health. "Health sovereignty is not isolation, but the ability to make binding decisions, deploy domestic capacity, and exercise leadership over the systems that determine whether our people live or die. "For decades, our continent has been spoken to often with goodwill but rarely on equal footing," Akandoh added.
The summit brought together African leaders, policymakers, and development partners to forge a new path focused on sustainability, equity, and continental leadership in health governance.
