Health minister Muhammad Ali Pate has called for a new vision for a global new public health order for Africa, emphasising domestic resource mobilisation and local manufacturing of health products.

Speaking on Tuesday at the Africa Health Sovereignty Summit in Accra, Mr Pate challenged existing frameworks that reduced global health to a narrow set of diseases or priorities largely shaped by external narratives:

“Global health is often described through the lens of a few priority issues, diseases like HIV, malaria, and tuberculosis, or through specific areas such as health financing or maternal and child health. Yet these issues are framed by externally driven perspectives, leaving African voices, especially from poorer countries, less acknowledged,” he said.

The minister said that most health progress in lower-income countries over the past 25 years has depended on domestic financing and local leadership, with donor support playing a complementary role.

He warned that shifting geopolitics and nationalist tendencies demand a recalibration.

“We cannot build healthier populations purely on the generosity of other nations. It is time to define our path, rooted in sovereignty and aligned with local needs,” he said.

Mr Pate noted the continuity of structural inequities, despite efforts ranging from the Bandung Conference in 1955 to the Alma Ata Declaration of 1978, as well as global debt initiatives and public health commissions.

Despite these structural flaws and the emergence of over 70 global health partnerships, such as the Global Fund, Gavi, and CEPI, he warned of fragmentation and dwindling resources.

To reclaim leadership in global health, he said, “we must act decisively through a seven-point strategic framework”.

Mr Pate underscored the role of private sector investment models and public-private partnerships as vital complements to government-led reforms.

He reaffirmed his ministry’s commitment: Nigeria is operationalising bold reforms in primary care, financing, and digitisation, while expanding access through community-level data systems.

(NAN)