President John Dramani Mahama has called on African leaders and financial planners to reframe healthcare as a strategic investment essential to national development, rather than a financial drain.
Delivering an address at the 2025 Africa Health Sovereignty Summit on Tuesday, August 5, the President said the outdated view of health as a cost must be abandoned in favour of a model that recognises healthcare as a catalyst for productivity and economic expansion.
“We must reject the outdated notion that health drains our economies.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.”
“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,” Mahama stated.
He illustrated the economic value of preventive healthcare, noting that stopping a single malaria infection means one more productive day at work, and vaccinating a child safeguards a nation’s future.
Mahama further called for finance ministries to prioritise long-term investment in health systems, urging sovereign wealth funds to channel resources into biotechnology, diagnostic tools, and resilient healthcare infrastructure.
He also challenged economists to revise the way national accounts treat health spending, proposing that it be measured as a productivity multiplier rather than a consumption item.
“We must therefore urge our Ministries of Finance to treat health as a capital investment. Encourage sovereign wealth funds to allocate resources to biotech, diagnostics, and resilient infrastructure. Call on economists to revise national accounts to reflect health as a productivity multiplier—not a consumption expense.”
Source: Starrfm.com.gh
