President John Dramani Mahama has announced the launch of the Health Investment and National Gateway, known as H-Enabler, a platform aimed at streamlining regulation, clinical validation and commercialisation for health innovators and investors across Africa.
President Mahama said H-Enabler had been developed in collaboration with the African Medicines Agency, Institut Pasteur and Afrochampions to help address regulatory and financial barriers that have historically constrained investment in Africa’s health sector.
According to President Mahama, the platform is designed to serve as a data-driven system bringing together regulatory processes, clinical validation and commercialisation into a single, unified framework for innovators and investors operating within Africa’s health sector.
He explained that reducing regulatory friction was necessary to create a stronger continental ecosystem for pharmaceutical manufacturing and health investment, describing this as a critical step toward building a more cohesive and efficient health industry across the continent.
Addressing Africa’s Import Dependence
President Mahama said the initiative forms part of broader efforts to strengthen Africa’s capacity to produce medicines and vaccines locally, thereby reducing the continent’s heavy dependence on imports.
He disclosed that Africa currently imports more than 70 percent of its pharmaceuticals and nearly 99 percent of its vaccines, resulting in significant financial resources leaving the continent to procure essential health products.
“Reducing regulatory friction is necessary to create a stronger continental ecosystem for pharmaceutical manufacturing and health investment.”
President John Dramani
He explained that H-Enabler would help create a more predictable environment for investors and manufacturers, while also supporting the development of regional health value chains capable of meeting the continent’s own pharmaceutical and vaccine needs.
Tracking Capital Flows Through the Accra Reset Council
President Mahama further disclosed that, through the Accra Reset Presidential Council, Ghana is deploying dedicated task forces and reform interlock observatories to track capital flows, monitor policy commitments, and address non-tariff barriers affecting regional value chains.
This mechanism, he explained, is intended to provide more rigorous oversight of how investment commitments translate into actual outcomes, while identifying and addressing obstacles that continue to hinder the free movement of goods and capital across regional value chains in the health sector.
President Mahama called for greater participation by private capital, industrial developers, commercial banks and sovereign funds in Africa’s health manufacturing sector, signalling that government alone cannot drive the scale of investment required to transform the continent’s pharmaceutical and vaccine production capacity.
Challenging Regulators to Accelerate Harmonisation
President Mahama also challenged African regulators to accelerate the operationalisation of the African Medicines Agency, arguing that a harmonised regulatory system could enable a single drug approval to facilitate access across the entire continent, rather than requiring separate approvals in each individual country.
“A harmonised regulatory system could enable a single drug approval to facilitate access across the continent.”
President John Dramani
He said stronger regulatory coordination, combined with sustained investment in local manufacturing, would be critical to achieving greater health sovereignty for Africa, while ensuring that African countries are better positioned to respond effectively to future health emergencies without relying heavily on external sources for essential medicines and vaccines.
The announcement positions H-Enabler as a flagship initiative within Ghana’s broader push to position itself and the wider continent as a hub for health sector investment and local pharmaceutical production.
By combining regulatory streamlining with clinical validation and commercialisation support under one platform, the initiative appears designed to lower the barriers that have historically discouraged investors and manufacturers from committing capital to African health markets.
Context Within Broader Continental Health Goals
President Mahama’s remarks reflect a continuation of ongoing continental conversations about reducing Africa’s reliance on imported pharmaceuticals and vaccines, a concern that gained renewed urgency following global supply disruptions in recent years that exposed vulnerabilities in the continent’s access to essential health products during emergencies.
As H-Enabler moves from announcement to implementation, attention will likely focus on how quickly the platform can attract meaningful participation from private capital, industrial developers and financial institutions, and how effectively the African Medicines Agency can advance toward the harmonised regulatory system President Mahama described as essential to unlocking continent-wide access to locally manufactured medicines and vaccines.
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