NHIA to Translate Accra Reset Commitments into Local Health Reforms – CEO
By: Isaac Boamah Darko – New York
New York — President John Dramani Mahama, who serves as the African Union Champion for African Financial Institutions, on Tuesday convened a high-level side event at the 80th United Nations General Assembly themed “The Accra Reset: Reimagining Global Health, Resetting Global Development.” The gathering brought together prominent global leaders, including Barbados’ Prime Minister Mia Mottley, former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo (co-convenor), former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown, the Director-Generals of the WTO and WHO, African health ministers, and the CEO of Gavi, among others.
Speaking on the sidelines of UNGA80, Acting Chief Executive of Ghana’s National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA), Dr. Victor Asare Bampoe, said any meaningful “reset” of global development must begin with health and that strengthening the health sector will have ripple effects across the economy. “The health sector is so important that the reset must start from there, but it will affect other sectors,” Dr. Bampoe said, highlighting the role of institutions like the NHIA in translating high-level commitments into national reforms that secure financing and sustain access to care.
President Mahama used the launch to frame the Accra Reset as a bold, actionable framework to remake global governance for a turbulent, post-SDG era. He described the current situation as a “deeper malaise” in global development — driven by the collapse of legacy aid systems, crushing debt burdens in the global south, and fragmented supply chains — and argued that the underlying logic of development is no longer fit for purpose. The Accra Reset, he said, rests on three core shifts: a mindset shift recognizing an era of unpredictability; a focus shift toward executable business models and coalitions; and a reality shift that accepts and harnesses diverse interests for pragmatic cooperation. Central to the proposal is a move toward multiplying resources and resilience rather than rationing them.
Participants at the New York meeting emphasized domestic financing and ownership as essential to the Reset’s success. Ghana’s Minister of Health, Kwabena Mintah Akandoh, reiterated the need for Ghana to fully fund its health priorities to avoid policy volatility tied to donor decision-making — a concern underscored by the recent U.S. suspension of most foreign assistance, which froze USAID programmes and created an estimated $156 million funding gap for Ghana.
Hon. Nana Oye Bampoe Addo, a Deputy Chief of Staff, outlined the government’s broader objective under the NDC administration: to transition toward self-funded programmes that reduce vulnerability to external shocks. That ambition aligns with the Accra Reset’s emphasis on building durable coalitions and syndicates that can mobilize sustained investment for health, climate resilience, and food security.
For the NHIA, Dr. Bampoe’s remarks point to concrete national priorities: strengthening the domestic financing architecture for Ghana’s National Health Insurance Scheme, insulating core health programmes from external shocks, and aligning implementation with international coalitions that can bring political, technical, and financial support. While the Accra Reset proposes a new global coalition and a high-level panel drawing expertise from health, finance, innovation, and business, local institutions such as the NHIA will be tasked with converting those global commitments into everyday services at clinics and in communities.
As global leaders discussed presidential councils, coalitions of the willing, and high-level advisory panels in New York, Ghana’s NHIA said it is prepared to play a central role in national efforts to make the health system more resilient — reinforcing the argument that any credible reset of global development must begin where the effects of inequality and insecurity are first felt: at the point of care