President John Dramani Mahama has officially unveiled a High-Level Panel for the Accra Reset, a new African-led initiative aimed at fundamentally restructuring the global health architecture to better serve the Global South.
Announced by the Chancery of the Accra Reset, the initiative seeks to challenge and reform a global health order that, according to the President’s office, has historically treated developing nations as passive recipients rather than sovereign actors with a right to shape international rules.
The 18-member panel will be co-chaired by four distinguished global health leaders: Peter Piot, former Director-General of UNAIDS; El Hadj As Sy, Chair of the Kofi Annan Foundation; Nisia Trindade, Brazil’s Minister of Health; and Budi Gunadi Sadikin, Indonesia’s Minister of Health.
The panel’s mandate is to produce concrete, actionable proposals to restructure global health governance, ensuring that governments of the Global South are recognized as equal partners.
“This initiative represents a fundamental reimagining of how global health governance should function in the 21st century,” said Felix Kwakye Ofosu, Spokesperson to the President and Minister for Government Communications.
Notable members of the panel include Mohammed Pate (Nigeria’s Minister for Health), John Nkengasong (Executive Director of the MasterCard Foundation and former Director of Africa CDC), and Soumya Swaminathan (former Chief Scientist of WHO).
Michel Sidibé, former Executive Director of UNAIDS and former Minister of Health of Mali, has been appointed as Special Advisor to the High-Level Panel and Envoy of the Co-Chairs.
To ensure structured engagement with existing institutions, the panel’s work will be guided by a High-Level Consultative Group. This group includes leaders from the World Health Organisation (WHO), World Trade Organisation (WTO), the Global Fund, Africa CDC, AUDA-NEPAD, and the International Finance Corporation.
Notable members of the Consultative Group include Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (WHO Director-General) and Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala (WTO Director-General).
The Accra Reset is positioned as an African health and economic sovereignty initiative, with its first major output expected to be a blueprint for a more equitable global health order.
