Ethiopia urges self-reliant African health systems at AU summit
Deputy Prime Minister Temesgen Tiruneh called for African countries to turn the continent’s knowledge and institutions into practical health capacity as AU leaders emphasized domestic financing and local production.
Ethiopia has urged African governments to build more self-reliant health systems by converting the continent’s existing knowledge, institutions and experience into practical capacity.
Deputy Prime Minister Temesgen Tiruneh made the call on July 22, 2026, during an African Union health summit in Accra, Ghana. He said political commitment was needed to turn Africa’s existing capabilities into action and support a health future driven more strongly from within the continent.
At the same extraordinary AU session, African Union Commission Chairperson Mahmoud Ali Youssouf said stronger health sovereignty would require greater domestic financing, expanded local manufacturing of medicines and vaccines, effective regulatory systems, and sustained investment in research and innovation.
The meeting brought together African leaders to consider how countries can reduce external dependence while strengthening public-health institutions. Ethiopia’s participation places the country within a wider continental effort to align financing, manufacturing, regulation and political leadership around longer-term health resilience.
