President John Dramani Mahama has disclosed that Ghana lost approximately $78 million in health sector funding following the decision by the United States to suspend aid support to some African countries.
Delivering a keynote address at the 79th World Health Assembly in Geneva on Monday, May 18, the President said the reduction in donor support has had a significant impact on Ghana’s healthcare sector and broader national development efforts.
According to Mr. Mahama, the withdrawn funding had supported several critical healthcare programmes across the country, particularly interventions targeting malaria, maternal and child health, nutrition, HIV/AIDS treatment and testing services.
“In Ghana, health financing from bilateral and multilateral partners has significantly decreased since 2025. Ghana lost $78 million in health funding following the closure of US aid programmes,” he told the Assembly.
“These monies went into malaria programmes, maternal and child health, nutrition, HIV/AIDS programmes, including testing and the delivery of antiretroviral drugs,” he added.
The President expressed concern over what he described as the continuing decline in international healthcare assistance since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, warning that many developing countries are now struggling to sustain critical health interventions previously supported by donor funding.
According to him, global humanitarian and health assistance has reportedly dropped by nearly 40 per cent in recent years, placing additional strain on already fragile healthcare systems across the Global South.
“Six years after the last global pandemic, COVID-19, the world health architecture is changing rapidly. Overall, humanitarian assistance is reported to have declined by 40 per cent, and some of the largest Western economies have significantly cut their overseas development assistance,” he stated.
Mr. Mahama also revealed that the World Health Organization itself has been affected by the withdrawal of US support, resulting in budget constraints and programme reductions.
“The World Health Organisation’s budget has been gutted by the withdrawal of US assistance, forcing the organisation to scale down programmes and undertake staff retrenchment,” he said.
The President stressed the urgent need for African countries to strengthen domestic healthcare systems, increase local healthcare financing, and reduce dependence on foreign donor support in order to safeguard public health delivery.
He noted that building resilient healthcare systems would require stronger investments in medical infrastructure, healthcare personnel training, pharmaceutical production, and disease prevention programmes.
Mr. Mahama is attending the global health gathering as part of efforts to advocate greater health sovereignty for countries in the Global South and push for sustainable healthcare financing mechanisms.
The 79th World Health Assembly has brought together world leaders, policymakers, development partners and health experts from across the world to deliberate on emerging global health challenges, pandemic preparedness and the future of international healthcare financing.
Source: Wesleyannews.com
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