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Reclaiming Public Health

Nov 14, 2025

At the 14th African and Arab Countries Regional Conference, PSI affiliates adopted a resolution calling for reclaiming public health as a national responsibility, ending reliance on donor-funded programmes, and banning the privatisation of health services. Affiliates urged governments to invest in resilient health systems, support local medicine production, hire and fairly pay health workers, and mobilise domestic resources to reduce dependency on foreign aid.

 RESOLUTION #3: RECLAIMING PUBLIC HEALTH-RESILIENCE, JUSTICE, AND GOVERNMENT RESPONSIBILITY 

The 14th Africa and the Arab Countries Region Conference (AFRECON) Meeting in Accra, Ghana, 11-14 November 2025 

WHEREAS many national health systems structured around USAID-funded vertical programmes (such as HIV/AIDS or maternal health) have faced abrupt service disruptions, medication stock-outs and staff shortages when funding was withdrawn or reallocated; 

ACKNOWLEDGING that donor dependency also distorts national priorities. Health ministries often divert limited administrative capacity to meet donor reporting requirements or align with donor agendas, rather than building resilient, integrated public health systems; 

RECOGNISING that this crisis stems from decades of political failure, exemplified by the failure of national governments to invest in the health sector. 

RESOLVES to: 

  1. Reclaim health as a sovereign public responsibility, campaigning to enshrine health as an inalienable right in national constitutions and ending donor-dependent models. Ban the privatisation of health in trade agreements and halt public-private partnerships that commodify care. 

  2. Call on governments to invest in resilience by empowering local pharmaceutical production to reduce medicine costs, recruiting more health workers who are paid a living wage and working in safe environments. 

  3. Systematically document service gaps and health outcomes caused by USAID and other donor cuts across countries. 

  4. Advocate for strategies to mobilise domestic resources and promote South-South cooperation, reducing structural reliance on foreign aid. 

Submitted by: Ghana Registered Nurses and Midwives Association (GRNMA), Ghana 




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