- World Bank to Launch “Fit to Prosper” Health Strategy in Accra, With President Mahama to Preside
The World Bank Group, in partnership with the Government of Ghana and the Global Financing Facility (GFF), will, on Monday, May 4, 2026 convene a high-level regional launch of a new health strategy aimed at helping countries in Western and Central Africa protect health gains, strengthen health security and support job creation amid tightening public finances.
The strategy titled “Fit to Prosper: Investing in Health for Jobs and Development in Western & Central Africa” is positioned as a framework for governments facing growing pressure on health systems from population growth, disease outbreaks, climate shocks and a rising dual burden of disease at a time when financing for health is becoming more constrained.
The World Bank said in a press statement that the strategy is aligned with the Accra Reset, the Lusaka Agenda and the World Bank Group’s commitment to Universal Health Coverage, and is designed to help countries “prioritise and make strategic shifts within constrained fiscal space”.
A key pillar of the plan is the Africa Initiative for Medical Access and Manufacturing (AIM2030), which the World Bank says will support local manufacturing of essential health products, strengthen health security and create jobs an explicit push to link health spending with industrial capability and employment outcomes.
The Accra launch will be presided over by President John Dramani Mahama and is expected to draw government ministers and delegations from across Western and Central Africa, World Bank Group senior officials, leaders of regional and international organisations, private sector representatives and civil society stakeholders.
According to the advisory, the event will introduce the strategy as a “unifying framework” for the region and demonstrate how improved health outcomes can be pursued alongside job creation, productivity gains, stronger health security and domestic resource mobilisation. It will also seek to build a shared understanding of how countries can advance health priorities in the context of tightening fiscal space while strengthening collaboration and harmonised financing to support health, nutrition and resilience.
