President Mahama Urges World Leaders to Fight Poverty with Same Urgency as Pandemics

President of Ghana, H.E. John Dramani Mahama, has called on global leaders to confront poverty and underdevelopment with the same urgency and collective action used to fight pandemics, warning that millions of young people in the Global South are being locked out of opportunity.

Speaking at a high-level meeting of the Accra Reset Initiative on the margins of the World Economic Forum in Davos, President Mahama said the world has previously shown that coordinated global action is possible when lives are at stake.

“If we could mobilize the world to fight a disease, why can’t we mobilize with the same urgency to fight poverty, dependency, and exclusion?” President Mahama asked.

A Global System Under Strain

The Ghanaian leader said the multilateral governance system established after the Second World War is weakening, with bilateral relations increasingly driven by transactional interests that leave developing countries vulnerable.

“Our world as we know it is at an inflection point. The global multilateral system is under strain, and many of the institutions that once saved millions of lives are now underfunded,” he said.

President Mahama noted that shrinking development assistance and rising geopolitical tensions make it imperative for countries of the Global South to build greater self-reliance.

Lessons from Global Health Crises

Drawing lessons from the global response to HIV/AIDS and COVID-19, President Mahama said decisive leadership and cooperation once transformed despair into progress.

“Twenty years ago, courageous leadership helped create the Global Fund and saved millions of lives. Today, we face a different pandemic—the pandemic of unfulfilled potential,” he stated.

He added that the COVID-19 crisis exposed deep inequities in global systems, particularly in vaccine access.

“Africa was the last continent to receive vaccines during a global pandemic. That experience was a powerful reminder that we must build our own capacity to act,” he said.

Youth, Jobs and Lost Potential

President Mahama warned that poverty, unemployment, and weak public systems pose an existential threat to social stability across Africa and the Global South.

“Millions of young people have no jobs, health systems collapse at the first crisis, and our economies extract resources without building anything lasting,” he said.

According to him, failure to address these challenges with urgency risks deepening inequality and instability.

Africa’s Reset Agenda

The President highlighted Ghana’s recent economic recovery as proof that reform and accountability can deliver results, while stressing that no single country can succeed alone.

“Ghana’s turnaround shows that execution beats excuses. But Ghana cannot succeed in isolation. Africa must move together,” he said.

He outlined the Accra Research Initiative as a practical framework for coordinated action, focusing on skills development, regional manufacturing, and collective bargaining on trade, minerals, and climate finance.

“This is not a talk shop. It is a practical blueprint for building real sovereignty—measured in jobs created, children educated, and young people thriving,” Mahama explained.

Call for Partnership, Not Charity

President Mahama concluded by urging world leaders to replace charity-driven engagement with genuine partnership.

“We did not come to ask for charity. We came to propose a global partnership of the willing, based on mutual respect and shared prosperity,” he said.

He challenged leaders to show courage comparable to that displayed during global health emergencies.

“The question before us is simple: do we have the courage to fight poverty with the same urgency with which we fight pandemics?” President Mahama asked.