President John Dramani Mahama has called on financiers, regulators and industrial leaders to set out practical measures for Africa to build a self-sufficient health sector, warning that healthcare must be treated as a major investment opportunity rather than charity or a secondary public expense.
Speaking at the Alamein Africa Forum in Egypt on Saturday, Mr Mahama said the continent needed to move from dependence on imported medicines and vaccines towards stronger domestic production.
He put three direct questions to panel members and industry representatives after his keynote speech.
He asked financiers: “What specific de-risking instruments and blended finance structures do you need from governments to deploy patient capital into African pharmaceutical plants today?”
Regulators were challenged to answer: “How quickly can we operationalise the African Medicines Agency to ensure a single drug approval opens the doors to all 54 AU member states?”
And industrialists were asked: “What strategic partnerships do we need to move from basic packaging and fill-and-finish operations to full Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API) synthesis on African soil?”
Mr Mahama’s comments came as Africa continues to import more than 70 per cent of its pharmaceuticals and 99 per cent of its vaccines, resulting in tens of billions of dollars in foreign exchange leaving the continent each year.
The situation is expected to become more difficult as traditional donor funding for health programmes in Africa is forecast by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to fall by 29 to 46% from 2024 levels.
Health investment
Rather than viewing the reduction in aid solely as a threat, Mr Mahama described it as a major commercial opportunity and cited evidence supporting greater investment in healthcare.
Referencing the Copenhagen Consensus, he said each dollar spent on basic maternal and newborn care generated $87 in economic and social returns.
He also referred to Lancet Commission research showing that falling mortality rates contributed almost a quarter of income growth in developing countries during the early 2000s.
The president also announced HINGE, or Health Investment and National Gateway Enabler, a digital platform intended to tackle the regulatory and market-access problems that restrict cross-border pharmaceutical activity.
The initiative has been developed by the African Medicines Agency (AMA), Institut Pasteur and AfroChampions. It is designed to link regulation, clinical validation and commercialisation in a single process across African markets.
Mr Mahama said the Accra Reset Presidential Council, which he chairs, was establishing dedicated Task Forces and a Reform Interlock Observatory. Their role will include monitoring capital flows across the continent and removing non-tariff barriers affecting regional value chains.
He highlighted Egypt’s response to Hepatitis C as an example of what could be achieved through domestic industry. The country reduced prevalence from 10% to below 0.5% after prioritising local production, technology transfer and national companies such as Pharco instead of relying on costly imported treatments.
Mr Mahama also cited the African Medical Centre of Excellence (AMCE) in Abuja, Nigeria, saying it was helping to address the $6 billion lost annually through outbound medical tourism.
“Let us stop treating health as a line-item expense,” he told delegates.
