Africa Leads, World Ignores: Time to Decolonize Global Health
17:33 04.06.2025 (Updated: 18:17 04.06.2025)
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The world continues to misunderstand — or deliberately ignore — Africa’s capacity to lead its own health responses. For far too long, global narratives have painted the continent as helpless, waiting for rescue.
But as Tian Johnson, founder of the African Alliance, explained, that perception is not only outdated — it’s rooted in racism and colonial thinking.
“The world equates capacity with foreign infrastructure. Yet that’s not our reality,” he told Sputnik Africa. “Our capacity is rooted within our lived experiences and within our history, the way we've responded to pandemics and health emergencies in the past.”
This is not just a misconception — it’s a systemic bias. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Africa wasn’t begging for help. It was demanding a seat at the table, one it had every right to occupy.
“If you look back during COVID, the narrative was that Africa was begging for vaccines. Well, actually, we weren't. We were willing to pay for vaccines the same way Europe and America were paying for vaccines, but we were consistently pushed to the back of the line,” Johnson said.
The image of a continent constantly waiting for handouts must be shattered. Africa led on science — Botswana was among the first to detect the Omicron variant — yet it was met with travel bans, not thanks.
“So, it's this racial typecasting of Africa as, please, sir, please, sir, with the begging bowl... and not actually doing the hard work of decolonization by actually saying: The capacity is here. The infrastructure is here. The resources are here,” the Pan-African health justice strategist said.
But the issue runs deeper. It’s not only about how the world views Africa — it’s also about how Africans are taught to view themselves and their leaders. For the next generation of health leaders, this internal decolonization is just as critical.
“If I gather 10 of my colleagues... and I ask, what does the next generation of leadership look like? You'll hear things like Harvard. You'll hear things like Yale. You'll hear things like WHO Geneva. We need to rethink how we understand this concept of leadership,” Johnson pointed out.
True African leadership will not come from mimicking Global North institutions. It must be rooted in African contexts, values, and communities — like the Kofi Annan Fellowship at Africa CDC, which Johnson sees as a model of pan-African excellence in leadership development.
And that vision of homegrown leadership extends to the partnerships Africa builds globally. Unlike many North-South dynamics steeped in soft power and control, South-South collaborations are reshaping what justice and equality can look like in global health.
“These partnerships... are rooted in solidarity, not saviorism. They're not here to come and save the African natives. They're here because they are rooted in solidarity. We see ourselves in each other,” the activist explained.
When Senegal partners with Brazil on vaccine platforms, or South Africa with India on generics, it’s a meeting of equals — not a charity transaction. It’s about reciprocity, cultural mirroring, and shared strategic power — such as influencing global rules on intellectual property.
And yes, that shift threatens entrenched interests.
“The biggest fear of the West, of Northern donors, is Africa’s independence and Africa’s liberation... they begin to ask of the Northern donors, are you necessary?” Johnson concluded.
