The Health Community of West Africa (HCOWA) Association has held a high-level meeting with the World Health Organization (WHO) Country Office for Ghana to explore a wide-ranging partnership aimed at strengthening healthcare delivery and innovation across West Africa.
The meeting, which took place in Accra, on 17th November, 2025, focused on collaboration in artificial intelligence in healthcare, medical equipment and vaccine systems, training and capacity building, and plans to co-host the 2026 China–West Africa Medical Summit and Expo, scheduled for August 2026 in Accra. Both sides also discussed organizing joint policy forums on health financing, disease prevention, pharmaceutical regulation, and emerging health technologies.
HCOWA was represented by its President, Madam Sihong Jiang; Chief Director David Tai, Vice President; Prince Dogbey, General Secretary; Believe Domor; and Lin Qi, Deputy General Manager of HCOWA’s pharmaceutical partner company in China.
The WHO delegation was led by Dr. Sofonias Gatachew, Health Systems Specialist and Team Lead for Universal Health Coverage (UHC) Life Course at WHO Ghana.
WHO Welcomes Proposal as boost for Universal Health Coverage
Dr. Gatachew said WHO sees the partnership as an important opportunity to accelerate progress toward Universal Health Coverage, one of WHO’s central global mandates, and a key requirement for achieving Sustainable Development Goal 3 (SDG 3: Good Health and Well-Being).
“WHO’s mission is to support Member States to build strong and equitable health systems that ensure everyone, regardless of economic circumstance, has access to quality essential health services. The areas identified by HCOWA—digital health, vaccines, AI-driven diagnostics, and capacity building—are aligned with WHO’s priorities for the African region,” he stated.
He noted that WHO has been working with Ghana and other West African governments to improve disease surveillance, strengthen emergency preparedness, and advance digital health infrastructure, particularly following the lessons of COVID-19, Ebola and other outbreaks in the region.
Dr. Gatachew added that WHO is particularly encouraged by HCOWA’s strong commitment to digitization and artificial intelligence for medical diagnostics, telemedicine, supply-chain management and predictive public health analytics.
“Digital transformation is no longer optional for health systems. It is a necessity for saving lives and improving efficiency. Partnerships such as this one with HCOWA can help us expand these advancements across West Africa,” he said.
