China-West Africa Medical Summit Pushes Beyond Imports Toward Local Manufacturing
AFRICA
ACCRA, Ghana — Ghana's government called this week for deeper healthcare cooperation between China and the wider West African subregion, urging partnerships that move past finished-product imports toward local manufacturing and technology transfer. Deputy Health Minister Grace Ayensu-Danquah told delegates at the third China-West Africa Medical Expo and AI Diagnosis Summit in Accra that health sector cooperation should center on assembly, research collaboration, professional training and investment in local technical capacity.
Ayensu-Danquah said such partnerships would strengthen health security across the Economic Community of West African States, create jobs and build a more resilient regional health system. She framed Ghana's interest in Chinese cooperation as an opportunity to draw on manufacturing, engineering and healthcare infrastructure expertise in service of the country's own health sector ambitions, rather than dependency on imported finished goods.
The summit drew more than 300 medical manufacturers, pharmaceutical firms, healthcare professionals, researchers and technology companies from China, Ghana and across the region. Ayensu-Danquah said the gathering's success should be measured by the practical partnerships, investments and technology transfers that follow, rather than the declarations issued during the three-day event.