Opening Statement by H.E. Amb. Amma A. Twum-Amoah AUC Commissioner for HHS

Opening Statement By H.E. Amb. Amma A. Twum-Amoah

Auc Commissioner For Health, Humanitarian Affairs And Social Development

Delivered at the Ministerial Meeting on Ending AIDS by 2030 and Addressing Preventable Maternal Deaths, Communicable and Non-Communicable Diseases Endemic to the Continent and Strengthening Health Systems in Africa

Alisa Hotel

Accra, Republic of Ghana| Tuesday, 21 July 2026

Theme: "Advancing Justice, Equity and Universal Health Coverage: Ending AIDS, TB, improving maternal health, addressing endemic non-communicable and neglected tropical diseases and conditions in Africa"

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HON. KWABENA MINTA AKANDOH, MINISTER FOR HEALTH OF THE REPUBLIC OF GHANA,

H.E. AMBASSADOR ÉDOUARD BIZIMANA, MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS, REGIONAL INTEGRATION AND DEVELOPMENT COOPERATION OF THE REPUBLIC OF BURUNDI, AND CHAIRPERSON OF THE EXECUTIVE COUNCIL,

HONOURABLE HON. DR. FLORENCE SAMIZI
DEPUTY MINISTER, REPRESENTING THE HON. MINISTER OF HEALTH OF THE REPUBLIC OF TANZANIA AND CHAIR OF THE STC-HNPDC-5,

HONOURABLE MINISTERS HERE PRESENT,

EXCELLENCIES, AMBASSADORS,

EXCELLENCIES, HEADS OF DELEGATIONS,

REPRESENTATIVES OF AFRICAN UNION ORGANS AND REGIONAL ECONOMIC COMMUNITIES,

DEVELOPMENT PARTNERS, CIVIL SOCIETY AND COMMUNITY LEADERS,

OUR MEDIA FRIENDS,

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN,

It is my great honour to welcome you to Accra, a city of history, hospitality and enduring Pan-African purpose, for this critical Ministerial Session.

At the outset, I extend our profound gratitude to the Government and people of the Republic of Ghana for the warmth of their welcome and their exemplary leadership in hosting this Extraordinary Summit.

An African proverb reminds us:

"Wisdom is like a baobab tree; no one person can embrace it alone."

No country, institution or partner can overcome Africa's health challenges alone. But together, guided by shared purpose, mutual accountability and African solidarity, we can transform the health trajectory of our continent.

Our gathering under the theme, "Advancing Justice, Equity and Universal Health Coverage: Ending AIDS and Tuberculosis; Improving Maternal Health; and Addressing Endemic Non-Communicable and Neglected Tropical Diseases and Conditions in Africa," represents a defining moment in our collective journey towards Agenda 2063.

We are not gathered merely to review statistics. We are here to confront the human realities behind them and secure a healthier, more resilient and increasingly self-reliant Africa.

Hon. Ministers, Excellencies,

Our continent has achieved hard-won progress. Millions of people living with HIV now have access to life-saving treatment. Malaria prevention and control have expanded. Maternal and child survival has improved. African institutions have demonstrated their capacity to lead coordinated responses to public health emergencies.

These gains deserve recognition, but they cannot become an excuse for complacency.

The unfinished agenda remains immense.

Nearly two-thirds of all people living with HIV are in sub-Saharan Africa. Tuberculosis continues to affect millions, driven by poverty, malnutrition, overcrowding, displacement and limited access to timely diagnosis and treatment.

Africa carries approximately 94 per cent of global malaria cases and 95 per cent of malaria deaths. Behind these figures are children who never reach their fifth birthday, families pushed deeper into poverty and economies deprived of human potential.

The maternal mortality burden is equally unacceptable. In 2023, sub-Saharan Africa accounted for approximately 70 per cent of maternal deaths globally, an estimated 182,000 women. Most of these deaths are preventable. To meet our targets by 2030, we must accelerate progress twelvefold.

Africa also carries close to 40 per cent of the global burden of neglected tropical diseases. At the same time, non-communicable diseases, including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer, chronic respiratory disease and mental health conditions, are rising rapidly.

These challenges do not exist in isolation.

A woman may be living with HIV, facing hypertension during pregnancy and unable to reach a health facility because of distance or cost. A child may simultaneously face malaria, malnutrition, unsafe water and inadequate sanitation.

Our people do not experience their health needs in vertical programmes. Our systems must therefore respond to the whole person, not merely to a single disease.

Honourable Ministers,

Our principal vehicle for transformation is the AU Roadmap to 2030 and Beyond: Sustaining the AIDS Response, Ensuring Systems Strengthening and Health Security for Africa's Development.

Aligned with Agenda 2063, its Second Ten-Year Implementation Plan and the Africa Health Strategy, the Roadmap envisions an Africa that ends HIV as a public health threat; controls tuberculosis, malaria, neglected tropical diseases and non-communicable diseases; prevents maternal, newborn and child deaths; responds effectively to epidemics and pandemics; and advances universal health coverage through strong primary healthcare systems.

Its seven mutually reinforcing pillars cover:

• Adolescents, children, men, women and youth;

• Health equity and vulnerable populations;

• Access to medicines, regulatory harmonisation and local manufacturing;

• Health security and health-systems strengthening;

• Diversified and sustainable financing;

• Leadership, governance, community engagement and oversight; and

• Integrated service delivery across diseases and population groups.

These are not seven separate agendas. They constitute one continental compact to place people, equity, resilience and sustainability at the centre of Africa's health transformation.

Hon. Ministers,

Four areas require our urgent attention.

First, we must transform health financing.

Africa cannot build sustainable health systems on unpredictable and declining external assistance. Development cooperation remains important and valued, but it must complement-not substitute-domestic responsibility and ownership.

We must strengthen domestic resource mobilisation, protect health allocations, improve public financial management, eliminate inefficiencies and work towards fulfilling the Abuja commitment to allocate at least 15 per cent of national budgets to health.

This is not simply about spending more. It is about spending better-prioritising prevention, primary healthcare, health workers, essential medicines and services for those furthest behind.

Health is not consumption. Health is productive investment. It builds human capital, strengthens economic resilience, protects families from poverty and safeguards national security.

Second, we must strengthen Africa's health sovereignty.

The COVID-19 pandemic taught us that dependence on distant supply chains for vaccines, medicines and diagnostics leaves our people dangerously exposed.

Local manufacturing is not a luxury. It is a strategic imperative.

We must invest in African pharmaceutical industries, strengthen research and development, operationalise pooled procurement, build regional value chains and accelerate regulatory harmonisation, including through the African Medicines Agency.

Africa must not remain at the end of the queue for life-saving products. We must research, develop, manufacture, regulate and procure more of what we need.

Third, we must invest decisively in the health workforce.

Africa faces a profound paradox: severe shortages of health personnel coexist with unemployment among trained health professionals.

We must recruit, train, fairly remunerate, protect and retain our doctors, nurses, midwives, pharmacists, laboratory personnel, epidemiologists and community health workers. We must also address poor working conditions, limited career opportunities and other factors driving health-worker migration.

Training health workers without creating pathways to employ and retain them is a loss of public investment and human potential.

Fourth, we must recognise the inseparable relationship between health, water and sanitation.

The 2026 African Union Theme of the Year rightly elevates sustainable water availability and safe sanitation as continental priorities.

Safe water, sanitation and hygiene are fundamental to infection prevention, maternal and newborn health, nutrition and human dignity.

A health facility without safe water is not fully functional. A maternity ward without adequate sanitation is not safe. Our water, sanitation and health agendas must therefore advance together.

Hon. Ministers, Excellencies,

Our mission today is clear: to assess progress honestly, acknowledge the gaps courageously, identify practical and adequately financed actions, and build consensus around a strong Declaration for consideration by our Heads of State and Government.

Our deliberations today must answer five essential questions:

What will we do differently?

Who will be responsible?

How will implementation be financed?

How will progress be measured?

And how will we hold ourselves accountable to Africa's people?

A mother experiencing complications during childbirth cannot wait for another declaration. A child with malaria cannot wait for another financing cycle. A young woman at risk of HIV cannot wait for promises that are never implemented.

The road to 2030 is now very short.

Our task is not to produce more commitments, but to honour those already made; not merely to speak about African ownership, but to demonstrate it through our budgets, institutions and decisions.

Let us remember the wisdom of the baobab tree: no one can embrace this task alone. But together, we can build health systems whose roots are strong, whose reach is wide and whose protection extends to generations yet unborn.

Let us move from declarations to delivery; from dependence to greater self-reliance; from fragmented programmes to integrated systems; and from preventable suffering to health, dignity and opportunity for every African.

I wish us fruitful, candid and outcome-oriented deliberations.

May God bless us all, and may He continue to bless Africa.

I thank you.

Medase.