Nicole Spieker is a healthcare professional with more than 17 years on the ground experience in Africa. A scientist by training, she has focused her career on developing and scaling innovative models for change that drive inclusive quality healthcare, especially for the vulnerable and the poor.

She is the CEO of PharmAccess, an international not-for-profit organization dedicated to the strengthening of health systems in sub-Saharan Africa. PharmAccess’ mission is to create access to affordable, quality healthcare for low income groups. This is achieved through the introduction of standards, the creation of health insurance systems, and provision of affordable loans to private clinics. Mobile and digital technology are considered key transformational elements in achieving UHC. At the core is the M-TIBA mobile health wallet, which connects patients, payers and providers. M-TIBA helps create new digital solidarity mechanisms where people start paying for each other, and how funding can channeled to target groups at very low transaction costs.

Dr Spieker is also the founder of SafeCare. The SafeCare approach is based on internationally acknowledged (ISQua) quality standards and dissects the improvement process of healthcare providers in survey-able, measurable steps. The methodology has been adopted by public and private partners in over 15 African countries.

Prior to this, Dr Spieker was Director of clinical support services at the Aga Khan Health Services, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and assistant professor at Aga Khan University. She holds a PhD in Molecular Genetics of the University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands.