The Executive Vice President, Diagnostics, Africa, at Roche Diagnostics, Dr. Allan Pamba has called on the United Nations General Assembly to prioritise African-led health solutions to tackle its health challenges rather than depending on foreign aid.\n<\/p>\n
In a statement he signed and made available to PUNCH Online on Friday, he urged leaders at the ongoing UNGA 80, to ensure that the continent\u2019s priorities are firmly at the centre of global commitments.\n<\/p>\n
This is coming at a time when African stakeholders and development experts are increasingly pushing for health sovereignty, which is the ability for African nations to independently design, fund, and deliver health services that align with local priorities.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cAs the world gathers for the 80th United Nations General Assembly the global health agenda is once again under the spotlight. For Africa, UNGA is an unmissable opportunity.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf there is one lesson to carry into this year\u2019s UNGA, it is that Africa\u2019s health future will not be secured through external dependence, but through partnerships that are co-created, sustainable, and grounded in sovereignty.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cHaving said that, however, we must also seize the moment to look inward, prompting Africa\u2019s decision-makers to take custody of their own destinies at the country level.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cThe last few years have shown that progress cannot be taken for granted. Funding shifts, pandemics, and political uncertainty have exposed the fragility of many health systems,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
According to him, partnerships and co-creation health systems are strongest when they are shaped through trust and shared responsibility, and collaboration on the road to universal health coverage is not just about funding streams or technical capacity.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is about bringing together ministries, industry, civil society and communities to design solutions that reflect local realities and priorities. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe have seen new healthcare co-creation models work in practice,\u201d he added.\n<\/p>\n
He said the sustainability of Africa\u2019s health systems rests on financing models that are innovative, predictable, and locally anchored.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cGlobal commitments will always be part of the picture, but they cannot be the whole picture. For too long, external dependency has left essential services in Africa vulnerable to shifting global priorities.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cDomestic financing, whether through direct procurement, innovative tax structures, or regional pooled mechanisms, is one of the clearest routes to sovereignty.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen Ministries of Health take the lead in securing essential diagnostics, they demonstrate to citizens and funders alike that Africa can chart its own course.<\/p>\n
\u201cHealth sovereignty is the capacity to decide, fund, and deliver care without being at the mercy of external forces.\n<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is not a rejection of global collaboration but a recalibration of how collaboration works. At its heart, sovereignty means that partnerships and financing mechanisms must strengthen Africa\u2019s leadership, not replace it,\u201d he stressed.\n<\/p>\n
He pointed out that UNGA presents an opportunity to advocate for financing models that move beyond temporary\u00a0solutions.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Executive Vice President, Diagnostics, Africa, at Roche Diagnostics, Dr. Allan Pamba has called on the United Nations…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8542,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[124],"tags":[6679,6680,6681,6682,6683,6684,6685,6686,6687,6688,134,2057,6689,6690,6691,2746,6692],"class_list":["post-8541","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-roche","tag-african-health","tag-african-health-sovereignty","tag-domestic-financing","tag-external-dependence","tag-foreign-aid","tag-global-health","tag-health-sovereignty","tag-health-systems","tag-healthcare-solutions","tag-local-priorities","tag-roche","tag-roche-diagnostics","tag-sustainable-financing","tag-unga","tag-unga-80","tag-united-nations","tag-universal-health-coverage"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8541","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8541"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8541\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8542"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8541"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8541"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8541"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}