The mandate of the eighteen-member panel, appointed by President John Dramani Mahama, is to produce concrete, actionable proposals to restructure the global health order, which has historically treated governments of the Global South as passive recipients rather than sovereign actors with the right to shape the rules under which their people live.

It is being co-chaired by four distinguished global health leaders: Peter Piot, former Director-General of UNAIDS and Professor at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine; El Hadj As Sy, Chair of the Kofi Annan Foundation and former Under-Secretary General of the United Nations; Nisia Trindade, Minister for Health of Brazil and President Emerita of Fiocruz; and Budi Gunadi Sadikin, Minister for Health of the Republic of Indonesia.

The panel's work will be guided by a Consultative Group, which includes leaders from the World Health Organisation (WHO), World Trade Organisation (WTO), the Global Fund, Africa CDC, AUDA-NEPAD, and the International Finance Corporation, among others.

This structure creates a pathway for structured engagement with the principal organs of the existing global health system.

"This initiative represents a fundamental reimagining of how global health governance should function in the 21st century," a statement announcing the appointment by Spokesperson to the President, Felix Kwakye Ofosu, stated.

Other key members of the panel include Mohammed Pate, Nigeria's Minister for Health; John Nkengasong, Executive Director of the MasterCard Foundation and former Director of Africa CDC; and Soumya Swaminathan, former Chief Scientist of WHO.

The others are Michel Sidibé, former Executive Director of UNAIDS and former Minister for Health of Mali, has been appointed as Special Advisor to the High-Level Panel and Envoy of the Co-Chairs. Mr. Sidibé brings decades of operational experience with the architecture the panel is charged with reforming.

The High-Level Consultative Group also includes WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, and other prominent leaders from global health institutions.