President John Dramani Mahama has revealed that Ghana has spent approximately $67 million on vaccines in recent years through its partnership with the Vaccine Alliance, GAVI.

He added that the government has already paid an amount of $20 million this year as part of its co-financing obligations.

Gavi, a global health partnership that brings together public and private sectors to improve access to vaccines in low-income countries, is aiming to raise $9 billion between 2026 and 2030 to immunise 500 million children globally.

Speaking at the Global Health Summit organised by Gavi and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in Brussels, President Mahama outlined Ghana’s ambition to transition from being a Gavi-supported country to becoming a donor nation by 2030.

He cited Indonesia as an example of a country that has successfully made such a transition.

President Mahama described the investment in vaccines as critical to securing the future of children, who will grow to become the nation’s future professionals and leaders.

He also highlighted Ghana’s 97% immunisation coverage, calling it a major success in public health.

He urged world leaders to prioritise funding for immunisation programmes over military expenditure, stressing that such investments could help save up to 500 million children from preventable diseases.

“Our partnership with Gavi is that of co-financing, and I am proud to say that in recent years, we have spent over $67 million on vaccines in partnership with Gavi. One of my first decisions as president was to uncap the national insurance. By doing so, we have been able to give the fund more than Ghc3.5 billion Cedis more. So, this has enabled the fund to be able to front-load $20 million for our co-finance partnership with Gavi this year,” he said.

“We are hoping that we will be able to fast-track our weaning off Gavi by 2030, and it is my expectation that we will work hard to be like Indonesia and in the future become a donor to Gavi,” he said.