African health leaders have issued a strong call for countries on the continent to reduce their heavy reliance on foreign nations for medicines, diagnostics, and other essential health products. They warned that without building local capacity, Africa will remain vulnerable to global health shocks and unable to respond effectively to its own public health needs.
At the inaugural African Health Summit, held in Uganda, leaders from across the continent raised concerns over insufficient health budget allocations and called for urgent reforms in health financing. Speaking at the Kololo summit on Friday last week, Mr Amason Jeffah Kingi, the speaker of the Kenyan Senate and the event’s chief guest, stressed that health security is now inseparable from national sovereignty.
He cautioned that Africa risks losing jobs, capital, and strategic influence whenever it depends on imported medicines that could instead be produced regionally.
‘In South Africa, the expansion of vaccine manufacturing capacity marks a critical step towards reducing Africans’ dependence on external vaccine supply chains,’ Mr Kingi said. ‘Here in Uganda, globally recognised models of HIV self-testing and community-based treatment access continue to bring dignity, accessibility, and innovation into public health systems,’ he said.
He added: ‘These advancements affirm one truth: when African leadership, investment, and innovation align, transformation follows. Across the continent, we are witnessing the spirit of Agenda 2063-the Africa we want.’ For decades, many African countries have heavily depended on international organisations and foreign funding to tackle pressing health challenges, including infectious diseases, maternal health crises, and emerging public health threats.
The summit aimed to shift this paradigm by emphasising local capacity building, fostering innovation, and promoting regional collaboration. Deputy Speaker of Parliament Thomas Tayebwa warned against the ‘dependency syndrome’ and called for reciprocal partnerships across the continent. Citing World Health Organisation figures, he noted that Africa recorded about 247 million malaria cases in 2023, about 94 percent of the global total.
‘The biggest challenge we are facing as a continent is tackling critical issues in a fragmented manner. We are playing safe within our very small and narrow zones, which is very unfortunate,’ Mr Tayebwa said. He added: ‘How do we tackle such issues to ensure they don’t happen again? Just one war in Europe forced that continent to redesign its budgets and reprioritise. It’s no longer about the health sector alone; first, they secure their borders. How do we secure ours?’
The Kampala summit attracted more than 450 participants, including ministers, policymakers, private sector representatives, researchers, development partners, global health influencers, academics, and civil society leaders from 10 African countries and beyond. Mr Tayebwa questioned why African nations continue to import medicine and diagnostic kits despite the presence of capable innovators on the continent. ‘Africa spends an estimated $14 billion every year importing medicine and kits from abroad; If that money stayed in Africa, banks and governments could reinvest it. Even big pharmaceutical companies would start producing in Africa,’ he said.
Mr Tayebwa said some multinational pharmaceutical companies operate several plants worldwide, but none in Africa. The Minister of Health, Dr Jane Ruth Aceng, highlighted that Africa bears 25 percent of the global disease burden while importing 95 percent of its medicine and diagnostics, contributing only 3 percent to global pharmaceutical production. ‘This imbalance is unsustainable. Health is an investment. It is an investment in productivity, peace, and prosperity. As the African Development Bank reminds us, every $1 invested in health yields $4 in economic returns. The time has come to redefine health as a pillar of economic growth and not as a social afterthought,’ Dr Aceng said.
She said most African countries spend less than 5 percent of GDP on health, far below the 15 percent target set in the Abuja Declaration. Meanwhile, external assistance for health has declined by 70 percent since 2021. ‘No country can achieve health sovereignty alone; we need to share technologies, harmonise regulations, and speak with one voice,’ she said.
Dr Abdourahmane Diallo, the director of programme management, underscored the importance of research and innovation to inform policy making, secure funding for universal health coverage, and promote health security. ‘Let us see this summit conclude with action commitments. Let us affirm our promise to embed self-care and community empowerment into our national strategies,’ he said.