The Chancery of the Accra Reset, an African health and economic sovereignty initiative championed by President John Dramani Mahama, has announced the establishment of a high-level 18-member panel tasked with reforming the global health architecture and governance.
The panel, co-chaired by Peter Piot, El Hadj As Sy, Nísia Trinidade, and Budi Gunadi Sadikin, has been mandated to produce actionable proposals for restructuring a global health system that, it argued, has treated Global South governments as passive actors rather than sovereign entities.
A statement signed by the Minister of Government Communications, Felix Kwakye Ofosu, explained that the panel’s work will be guided by a high-level consultative group, which will engage key institutions in the global health system, including the World Health Organization (WHO), World Trade Organization (WTO), Global Fund, Africa CDC, AUDA-NEPAD, and the International Finance Corporation (IFC).
“The panel is expected to commence work immediately, and its terms of reference will be ratified and adopted with substantive inputs from the World Health Assembly, the United Nations General Assembly, and other relevant bodies,” the statement added.
Michel Sidibé, former Executive Director of UNAIDS and former Minister of Health of Mali, has been appointed Special Advisor to the panel and envoy of the co-chairs, bringing decades of operational experience within the global health architecture.
Other members include Mohammed Ali Pate, Minister of Health of Nigeria; Catherine Kyobutungi, Executive Director of the African Population and Health Research Center; Magda Robalo, President and Co-Founder of the Institute for Global Health and Development, Guinea-Bissau; Precious Matsoso, Co-Chair of the WHO Pandemic Treaty negotiations; Antonio Rabici Lalabalavu, Minister of Health of Fiji; and Paulo Esteves, Associate Professor of International Relations at the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro.
Additional members are James Mworia, Group CEO of Centum Investment Company PLC; Moustapha Cissé, Founder of Google Africa’s first AI Lab; Yik Ying Teo, Dean of the Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, National University of Singapore; Eduardo Banzon, Director of Health at the Asian Development Bank; Soumya Swaminathan, Chair of the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation; and Hajime Inoue, Assistant Minister for Global Health and Welfare, Japan.
The remaining members include Carla Vizzotti, former Minister of Health of Argentina; Maha Barakat, Director-General of the Frontline Heroes Office; Mark Dybul, Professor at Georgetown University’s Department of Medicine; John Nkengasong, Executive Director at the Mastercard Foundation; Gunilla Carlsson, former Swedish Minister for International Development Cooperation; and Hafou Touré, Founder and CEO of HTS Partners.
An adviser to the high-level panel and a 14-member consultative group will also be appointed to support the panel’s work.
The panel is expected to provide concrete recommendations for enhancing African influence in global health decision-making and ensuring that countries of the Global South can actively shape rules affecting their populations.
BY TIMES REPORTER
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