President Mahama Calls for Sovereign Wealth Funds to Invest in African Biotech and Diagnostics

President John Dramani Mahama has called on African sovereign wealth funds to allocate resources to biotechnology, diagnostics, and resilient health infrastructure as part of a broader strategy to reframe health spending as economic investment rather than consumption.

Speaking at the Africa Health Sovereignty Summit in Accra, President Mahama argued that traditional approaches to health financing have failed to recognize the sector’s role as an economic engine. 

He urged Finance Ministers across the continent to treat health as capital investment, citing World Health Organization data showing every dollar invested in health resilience yields up to four dollars in returns.

“We must reject the outdated notion that health drains our economies. In truth, health is the engine of productivity and the bedrock of inclusive growth,” President Mahama stated during his address. 

“The WHO has shown that every $1 invested in health resilience yields up to $4 returns. 

“This return is even greater in Africa, where youthful populations represent latent economic dynamism,” he stated.

The President outlined specific economic benefits of health investments, explaining that every malaria case prevented represents a day of work regained, every maternal death avoided stabilizes a family, and every vaccinated child secures the future. 

He called for economists to revise national accounting methods to reflect health as a productivity multiplier rather than an expense.

President Mahama announced the launch of the SUSTAIN Initiative, an African-led platform designed to align national budgets with health priorities while mobilizing sovereign, diaspora, and philanthropic capital. 

The initiative aims to foster cross-border learning, innovation, and accountability in health financing across the continent.

The call for biotech investment comes as Africa seeks to build domestic capacity in pharmaceutical production and medical technology. 

President Mahama referenced successful continental initiatives like BIONOVAC, which aims to transform vaccine production from molecule to market, and PANABIOS for digital health verification and pandemic preparedness.

Ghana has already demonstrated this investment approach through its Medical Trust Fund, which mobilizes public, private, and philanthropic capital to tackle chronic diseases like hypertension and diabetes. 

The country has also uncapped financing for its National Health Insurance Scheme, opening 3.5 billion cedis more fiscal space for broader health coverage.

The President criticised the traditional donor-dependent model, noting that global development assistance declined sharply in 2023, immediately impacting African health programs. 

He described this as moving beyond funding gaps to represent a crisis of imagination and failure of shared responsibility.

President Mahama extended an open invitation to all nations to join an African health investment ecosystem driven by purpose, powered by equity, and anchored in sovereignty. 

The approach represents a shift from external dependency toward domestically controlled health financing and innovation systems.

Richard Aniagyei, ISD