The Chancery of the Accra Reset has announced the formation of a high-level panel tasked with advancing reforms in global health architecture and governance, as part of efforts to strengthen equity and sovereignty for countries in the Global South.

The Accra Reset, an African health and economic sovereignty initiative championed by President John Mahama, is positioning the continent to play a more decisive role in shaping global health systems and policies.

The 18-member panel will be co-chaired by the former Director-General of UNAIDS, Peter Piot, Chair of the Kofi Annan Foundation, El Hadj As Sy, Brazil Minister of Health Nisia Trinidade, and Indonesia Minister of Health Budi Gunadi Sadikin.

The panel has been mandated to produce concrete, actionable proposals aimed at restructuring a global health system often criticised for treating Global South governments as passive participants rather than sovereign actors.

According to the Chancery, the panel’s work will be guided by a High-Level Consultative Group, which will create a structured engagement pathway with key institutions within the existing global health system.

These include the World Health Organization, World Trade Organization, Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, African Union Development Agency, and the International Finance Corporation.

The panel is expected to commence work immediately, with its terms of reference to be refined and adopted through inputs from global platforms such as the World Health Assembly and the United Nations General Assembly.

In a further move to strengthen its work, Michel Sidibé, former Executive Director of UNAIDS and former Minister of Health of Mali, has been appointed as Special Advisor to the panel and Envoy to the co-chairs.

He is expected to bring decades of experience navigating the global health system, which the panel seeks to reform.

The initiative signals a renewed push to reposition African and Global South voices at the centre of global health decision-making, with a focus on fairness, accountability, and shared responsibility.