collaborate

Panel Chair

Ahmed Al Bastaki (Panel Chair)
Chief Strategy Officer
Rafed UAE

As Rafed’s Chief Strategy Officer, Ahmed Al Bastaki, with more than 28 years of professional experience encompass a wide scope in the field of healthcare & project management across the UAE and Internationally in both the government and private sectors. Having developed a wealth of knowledge & experience working on ambitious projects in the field of healthcare and supply chain management throughout his career, Ahmed’s duty includes steering major operational projects on behalf of Rafed and leading the Strategy Division, in addition to being a key driver in the collaborative effort across the company and its departments making sure Rafed is achieving above and beyond its objectives as a leading GPO. In his prior role at Abu Dhabi Healthcare Services Company SEHA, Ahmed was responsible for leading, planning and monitoring major operational projects such as leading the complete transfer of medical services management of the Abu Dhabi Police Clinics to SEHA. He was a key member of the activation Steering Committee of Sheikh Shakhbout Medical City, the 743 bed state-of-the-art hospital in partnership with Mayo Clinic. He was also responsible for several other prominent supply chain projects including the SEHA Central Warehouse, SEHA Central PPE Procurement and Global Consumables Supply Chain, while also performing due diligence, setting strategies and effective optimization to ensure achieving the anticipated outcomes.

Ms. Virginie Bohl (Panel Chair)
Coordinator
IMPACCT initiative

Ms Virginie BOHL is a senior international expert in devising and implementing strategies to optimize the cross-border movement of humanitarian relief aid. She worked for Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affaires of the United Nations for 20 years and has experience in coordination, preparedness, response, information management and capacity building support. Currently, she is the coordinator of the inter-agency IMPACCT Working group that she created in 2017. This group represents a network of strategic partners, such as the World Customs Organization, UNCTAD, ITU, IFRC, MSF, Save the Children, IHC in Dubai, World Bank, Help Logistics and OCHA. The mission of IMPACCT aims for countries and humanitarian organizations to be comprehensively prepared to effectively manage customs clearance and importation processes for disaster and crisis relief goods and equipment. To achieve its mission, partners come together to develop collective and coordinated approaches and tools to support national coordination mechanisms related to customs and importation processes for disaster relief goods and equipment.

Fabrice Pierre Augustin Panza (Panel Chair)
Manager of Global Cool Chain Solutions
Etihad Cargo

Fabrice Panza has over 25 years’ experience in sales & business development. Before commencing his career in the air industry, he used to be a military Instructor Officer in the French Army. In 1998 his first position at Air France was to deal with passengers as a Station Commercial Representative and after 4 years integrated a regional headquarter as Head of Studies and Statistics where he embedded new tools to analyze and steer sales. He joined Air France KLM Cargo in 2008 where he has been in charge of Sales for Eastern France and then joined France Sales Management team until 2012. In 2013 he was nominated into the Air France KLM Pharmaceutical Group as Sales Manager & Developer France where he set up a vertical organization while getting involved with local Pharma Associations (SFSTP & Pharma Logistics Club). In January 2017 he took up the role of Head of Product & Development for Pharmaceutical Logistics. In this position he led the dedicated global product team supporting his sales colleagues and operational departments to focus on high end, time & temperature sensitive, pharmaceutical and biotechnology products. In January 2019 he took over global responsibility for Quality under GDP/QA Pharma and launched a performance program enhancement and investment for cool chain products. Since May 2020 he is leading both Pharma and Fresh high value goods segments as he joined Etihad Cargo Group. It is Fabrice’s passion to share its knowledge and energy with concrete business targets. He holds a License level in History, and several distinction awards in sports, army, foreign language and in IATA Quality and Risk Management for Temperature Controlled Cargo. He lives in Abu Dhabi and has 3 kids.

Dr. Shital Maru (Panel Chair)
Senior Lecturer and Academic Lead For Pharmaceutics and Pharmacy Practice,Department of Pharmacy Faculty of Pharmacy
School of Pharmacy, University of Nairobi

Dr. Shital Mahindra Maru (B.Pharm, M.Pharm, MBA, PhD) is a Senior Lecturer and Academic Lead For Pharmaceutics and Pharmacy Practice for the Department of of Pharmacy Faculty of Pharmacy , University of Nairobi, Kenya. She is a registered Pharmacist in Kenya and has 17years of teaching experience at the University. Her interests are on Pharmaceutical product development using novel technologies, pediatric formulations, Continuous pharmaceutical production using Quality by Design (QbD) principles, Quality assurance of medicines, Good Manufacturing practices (GMP), Health commodities supply Chain management and operations management.

Dr. James Riungu (Panel Chair)
Chief of Party,Afya Ugavi Activity USAID Global Health Supply Chain – Procurement and Supply Management (GHSC-PSM) Project
Chemonics International

James Riungu serves as the Chief of Party of the USAID Global Health Supply Chain – Procurement and Supply Management (GHSC-PSM) project’s Afya Ugavi Activity. He is a healthcare supply chain specialist and registered pharmacist with over 20 years of experience in pharmaceutical supply chain management and coordination of healthcare supply chain operations in sub-Saharan Africa. Dr. Riungu has a broad range of experiences in the health sector that includes supporting research in global health supply chain management. Throughout his career, he has provided technical leadership and direction for the development and implementation of innovative strategies to improve health commodity security to the Kenyan Ministry of Health and other stakeholders in Kenya. His supply chain systems strengthening expertise ranges from inventory management, warehouse management, distribution, and transport, to LMIS and logistics systems performance monitoring. Dr. Riungu holds a Master’s in Logistics & Supply Chain Management, a Master’s in Business Administration, and a Bachelor’s in Pharmacy.

Ms. Lolem B. Ngong (Panel Chair)
Chief of Staff
Amref Health Africa

Lolem B. Ngong is a seasoned Global Public Health professional, with more than 15 years of leadership in global health diplomacy and coordination of strategic partnerships to address threats to public health. Ms. Ngong serves as Chief of Staff at Amref Health Africa. An epidemiologist by training, Ms. Ngong has advised and led collaborations with governments, civil society organizations, academic institutions, multilateral organizations, and international donors.

Joseph Mutasaaga (Panel Chair)
Manager Business Planning and Development
National Drug Authority, Uganda

Joseph is currently the Manager Business Planning and Development at National Drug Authority-Uganda(NDA), currently Co-opted Board member of CorSU rehabilitation hospital in Uganda, former Co-opted Board member of Uganda Heart Institute, Coordinator of Pharmaceutical Manufacturing with Uganda Investment Authority (UIA), member of the National Task Force for National Immunization programme and National Malaria private sector co-payment mechanism. He is the current Contracts Manager for a 23 floor NDA Ultra-modern laboratory tower in Uganda, holds a wide experience in business strategy, pharmaceutical regulatory systems, bilateral engagements, consultancy, Project management, finance, Audit, Risk management, planning, resource mobilization, logistics management, monitoring & evaluation, and policy development. He is a former lecturer in Uganda and the Republic of Rwanda. Joseph holds a Master’s of Business Administration from Herriot Watt University-Edinburgh Business School-Scotland, a Fellow of Chartered Certified Accountants (FCCA), Certified Public Accountant of Uganda (CPA-U), Bachelors of Applied Accounting of Oxford Brookes University-UK, ISO 9001:2015 lead Auditor, Member of Project Management Professionals (PMP) and Member of the Institute of Internal Auditors.

Speakers

Robert Sutton
Head of Logistics Cluster – AD Ports Group
HOPE Consortium

Robert Sutton, who heads up Abu Dhabi Ports’ Logistics Cluster, is a results-driven and customer-focused business leader. At Abu Dhabi Ports, his primary area of responsibility is to develop and implement Abu Dhabi Ports’ logistics strategy and work with customers and partners to meet their business requirements and develop value-driven relationships. Robert brings more than 20 years of experience across traditional, multi-modal, and digital supply chains spanning the MENA region, Asia, and Europe. His experience includes serving as Vice President & Global Sector Head at DHL. Robert has a proven track record of achieving profitable and sustainable business growth. He also delivers consistent value and significant improvements to business performance at an operational, strategic and financial level. His primary area of focus is end-to-end supply chain strategies, change management and marketing/business development.

Dr. Kasonde Mwinga
Director - Universal Health Coverage/Life Course Cluster,
World Health Organisation

Dr Kasonde Mwinga is the Director of Universal Health Coverage, Life Course Cluster (from May 2021). She leads WHO experts to facilitate the improvement of health and well-being of populations of different ages using people-centred health systems to achieve universal health coverage in Africa. Her current work puts women, children, adolescents and older persons at the heart of health service delivery through adequate health policy and planning, robust health financing systems, skilled and motivated health workforce, required medicines, technologies and infrastructure and reliable information to monitor progress. Dr Mwinga has served in various WHO country and regional office positions. Most recently, she was WHO Country Representative for Rwanda (as of May 2019). She was also the WHO India Team Leader (as of 2016), for promoting health through the life course. Before joining WHO in 2001, Dr Mwinga was a consultant paediatrician in the University Teaching Hospital in Zambia. She also worked as an honorary lecturer and researcher in the University of Zambia. Dr Mwinga holds a Master of Public Health from the University of Alabama at Birmingham (USA), a Master in Paediatrics from University of Zambia and a Health Management diploma from the University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom.

Sanjeev Gadhia
CEO
Astral Aviation

Sanjeev S Gadhia is the Founder and CEO of Astral Aviation Ltd which is a cargo-airline with a fleet of 14 Aircrafts and a Network of 50 Destinations. Astral offers a reliable air-freight and logistics solution for Pharma including the Covid vaccine for UNICEF, COVAX, AVAT and Hope Consortium as it has 20 years of experience with the distribution of Pharma and Vaccines within Africa, Middle East and Europe.

Ms Lusubiro Mwamsamali
Supply Chain Manager & Technical Lead
VillageReach

Lusubiro Mwamsamali is a pharmacist and global health supply chain expert. She is currently working with VillageReach in Liberia providing technical oversight for the supply chain for community health workers and systems strengthening program. Her expertise span from workforce development, capacity building, program implementation, strategic partnerships and sustainable governance to clinical pharmacy. She is a pharmacoeconomist in training and passionate about health equity, financing and increasing access to medicines.

Dr. Olukayode Fasominu
Senior Manager
UNICEF

Dr Kayode Fasominu is a Management Consultant and Public Health specialist with over a decade experience in leading transformational health systems initiatives in West and Eastern Africa. He currently supports the delivery of strategic immunisation supply chain investments across 60+ Gavi-eligible countries through the Immunisation Supply Chain Steering Committee (iSC2). Areas of expertise include immunisation supply chain, global health security, capacity building, program evaluation, operational research, and implementation of innovative programs, using human centered design approaches, to save lives and optimise health outcomes across disadvantaged populations. As Principal at Volte Health – a management consulting firm - he has led consulting engagements across Africa and Europe working with donor agencies, multilateral UN agencies and governments across different levels. Kayode received his medical degree from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria and holds a Master of Public Health (MPH) degree from Cardiff University, United Kingdom. He has also earned a certificate in modelling of infectious diseases from the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, New York, USA and a certificate in Leadership and Management in Health from the University of Washington, Seattle, USA. In his spare time, he loves to travel, explore new places, listen to music, and watch football.

Ms. Jane Karonga
Economic Affairs Officer
United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA)

Jane Karonga is an Economic Affairs Officer working with United Nations Economic Commission for Africa for past 9 years. She is mainly responsible for providing advisory services, capacity building and conducting research to African member States and other stakeholders in the area of regional integration, industrialization and infrastructure development. Previously, Ms Karonga was Programme Management Officer and economist for African Trade Policy Centre, where she was responsible for ATPC’s support to the Boosting Intra-African Trade (BIAT) initiative and AGOA national response strategies and the Centre’s programmatic work. Prior to working at UNECA, Ms. Karonga had several years of experience working for various companies in Zimbabwe, and USA in the area of economic development.

Jolly Abu
Executive Pharmaceutical Officer
United Nations

Mr. Jolly Abu is the Executive Pharmaceutical Officer with the Medical Support Section of the Logistics Division of the Office of Supply Chain Management of the United Nations in New York. He holds a Bachelor of Pharmacy Degree (1984) from the Ahmadu Bello University Zaria and a Master of Business Administration from the Bayero University Kano (1996); both institutions are in Nigeria, West Africa. He was commissioned in the rank of Lieutenant in the Nigerian Army in 1984 and rose to the rank of Colonel in 2004 before joining the United Nations as a military seconded officer in 2005. Of his 16 years of service with the UN, the initial 4 years were as a military seconded officer, and the rest as civilian after retirement in 2009. In his current capacity as Pharmaceutical Executive Officer, he provides the necessary professional/technical inputs into supply chain matters to do with the central procurement of medicines, vaccines, blood and blood products for all peacekeeping and political missions.

Hitesh Hurkchand
Senior Advisor, Global Health Strategy and Partnerships
World Food Programme

Hitesh is international public health development professional, trained epidemiologist, strategic and partnership specialist with more than 20 years of experience. Currently engaged as an expert advisor on pharmaceutical supply chain systems, medicines quality and access, quality, and most recently on access to COVID-19 vaccines in Africa. He holds engagements with the UN World Food Programs Global COVID-19 Emergency Public Health Response on matters concerning access and distribution to quality COVID-19 vaccines. He has held previous long-term engagements with UNICEF and the World Health Organization, Department of Essential Medicines and Health Products. Has worked across bilateral and multilateral actors to champion cooperation across a number of areas that include global health supply chain investments, medicines procurement reform, medicines quality and shortages of essential medicines and vaccines.

Dr. Julius Mugwagwa
Associate Professor of Innovation and Development
University College London

Julius is a multi-disciplinary researcher and innovation systems scholar, with a background in biological sciences, biotechnology and technology (biotech) regulation. He is currently an Associate Professor in Innovation and Development at University College London, Faculty of Engineering Sciences, Department of Science, Technology, Engineering and Public Policy (UCL STEaPP). He also serves as Thematic Director, Global Health, for UCL’s Global Governance Institute. Passionate about local capabilities, relevance and agency in health systems, his current research interests include the funding and governance of local production of medicines in Africa and the role of patients and care-givers as innovation intermediaries in health systems.

Dr Emile Bienvenu
Director General
Rwanda Food and Drugs Authority

Dr. Emile BIENVENU holds a bachelor of Pharmacy, a Master’s degree in Pharmacology from University of the Western Cape in South Africa, and a PhD in Medical Science from University of Gothenburg in Sweden in the area of Clinical Pharmacology (2013). He completed a research attachment at McGill University in Canada (2008), where he contributed to the project "The alternative modeling of Intellectual Property Systems in biotechnology innovation". Before his appointment as Director General of Rwanda FDA, he served as Deputy Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and Research at University of Rwanda (UR) (2020 – 2021), University Director for Innovation (2017 – 2021), and a Senior Lecturer of Pharmacology at UR, College of Medicine and Health Sciences. From 2011 to 2013, he was the Head of Medical Procurement and Distribution Division (currently Rwanda Medical Supply Ltd). Since 2009 to 2020, Dr. Emile BIENVENU served as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Rwanda Standards Bureau (RSB) for which he is a Member since 2002. He also served as Member of the Board of Directors of Rwanda Military Hospital (2012 – 2018). He is the Country Principal Investigator of two (2) international research projects in areas of innovation and Pharmacovigilance. Currently, Dr. Emile BIENVENU supervises a number of PhDs, and authored a number of papers in peer-reviewed international Journals over the past 7 years.

Deon Poovan
Senior Manager: Inspectorate and Regulatory Compliance
SAHPRA - South African Health Products Regulatory Authority

Deon is the Senior Manager: Inspectorate and Regulatory Compliance at the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority. He has a Bachelor of Pharmacy degree from the University of the Western Cape and hold a Master’s degree in Management in Public and Development Management from the University of the Witwatersrand. Within the pharmaceutical industry space, he has held management positions at Adcock Ingram Healthcare in both Production and Quality Assurance at a site level, as well as corporate level, where he managed Quality Assurance activities relating to contract manufacturers. Prior to that, he has worked in warehousing and distribution of clinical trials, raw materials, ophthalmic medicines and ophthalmic medical devices.

Ms. Nuran Idris
Healthcare Manager, Africa
GS1 Global Office

Nuran currently works as a healthcare Manager for Africa at GS1 Global office. Her main role involves supporting countries in Africa on their quest to set up pharmaceutical traceability using GS1 standards. Before joining GS1 in 2020, she worked in various public health supply chain & tech roles in multiple African countries for close to 10 years. She is passionate about harnessing the power of technology and global standards to improving health commodity supply chains thus contributing directly to patient safety.

Ms. Christelna Reynecke
Chief Operating Officer
SAHPRA - South African Health Products Regulatory Authority

Ms. Christelna Reynecke is the COO of South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA). She holds Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the Edinburgh Business School (Heriot Watt University). She also has a BPharm Degree from the University of the North West. In addition, she has been endorsed and certified among others for Business Strategy Execution: Designing Agile Operations, Project Management – Prince2 Foundation, Lean Management for All Sectors, Team Leadership & Management Skills 2020 and Import and Exports Trade Logistics. She has 21 years’ worth of experience in the Healthcare industry - in varying roles and most notably enjoys driving change and continuous improvement within organisations.

Dah El Hadj Sidi
Technical Director
USAID funded Global Health Supply Chain Technical Assistance Francophone Task Order (GHSC-TA Francophone TO) project, Chemonics International

Dr. Dah El Hadj Sidi is a specialist in health commodity management with more than 20 years of experience in the management of essential drugs, pharmaceutical systems and policies, and logistics and supply chain management. Currently, Dr. El Hadj Sidi serves as a technical director in Chemonics’ Global Health Division. As a previous senior procurement and supply chain management technical manager for the Grant Management Solutions project, he supported both the Global Fund Principal Recipients (PR) and the Countries Coordinating Mechanism (CCM) to ensure timely and appropriate execution of technical assistance in more than 61 countries. Over eight years, Dr. El Hadj Sidi has served as a technical adviser in Mauritania’s Ministry of Health as well as a deputy general director of the country’s Central Medical Stores (CAMEC). He holds a medical degree in pharmacy from the Faculty of Pharmacy of Monastir, Tunisia.

Anthony Kirunda
Sub-National Activity Manager, USAID/Strengthening Supply Chain Systems Activity
Management Sciences for Health

Anthony Kirunda is a Health Supply Chain Management Specialist with over 18 years of experience in health supplies logistics procurement and management. He is currently the Sub National Manager for the Management Sciences for Health led USAID/Uganda Strengthening Supply Chain Systems Activity. In this role he provides technical leadership and direction for the development and implementation of innovative strategies to support the strengthening of supply chain systems and capacity building of key sub-national level stakeholders. Prior to joining MSH, Anthony was the Head of Procurement and Management Information Systems at Africa Affordable Medicines (AAM Franchise), Sales and Marketing Officer at National Medical Stores and Branch Manager of Gilead Pharmaceuticals in Uganda. Anthony has great interest in innovations to improve management, availability and accessibility to medicines and health supplies in low resource settings.

Ms Regina Mariam Kamoga Namata
Executive Director
Community Health And Information Network (CHAIN)

Regina is the Executive Director of Community Health And Information Network (CHAIN) in Uganda. The organisation promotes the empowerment of people living with and affected by HIV, TB, Malaria and non communicable diseases. CHAIN also supports vulnerable children and promotes health literacy, patient centered care and patient safety. She holds a Masters degree in Public Administration & Management, Bachelor of Education from Makerere University, Kampala and Postgraduate Diploma in Project Planning & Management. She has served on numerous health advisory committees at national and international level and is a board member of The Ugandan Academy of Health Innovation and Impact, and the World Patient Alliance. She is also a founder member and chairperson of the Uganda Alliance of Patients Organisations. One of her key roles is as a WHO Patient Safety champion and she is a member of the WHO’s Patients For Patient Safety advisory group. In this capacity she has co convened meetings with the Ministry of Health ,WHO, National Drug Authority, Infectious Disease Institute , Medical Access, AFROSAFE and Uganda Alliance of patients Organizations (UAPO) and set up links between the MoH, CHAIN, Nottingham Trent University and Makerere law school, and co authored the Patient safety chapter in the WHO-TDR report on Implementation Research for the control of diseases of poverty. Other roles include membership of the Ugandan ministry of Health's Working Group on Supervision, Monitoring Research and Evaluation and National Quality Improvement, member of steering committee on Health Outcomes and Patient Safety of the Rotary International Fellowship for Healthcare professionals, and input into the work conducted by the Council For International Organisations For Medicines Sciences into drug development and safe use of medicines in developing countries.

Nonofo Thipe
Legal and Corporate Secretary
Botswana Medicines Regulatory Authority

Mr Nonofo Thipe holds a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) obtained from the University of Botswana and has spent his career primarily focused on governance, law and regulation. He started his career regulating non-bank financial institutions at the Non-Bank Financial Institutions Regulatory Authority of Botswana providing legal and enforcement services and working on development of the laws and regulations in the sector. In 2019, he joined the Botswana Medicines Regulatory Authority as the Legal and Corporate Secretary providing Board secretarial services and legal support to the Authority. He is currently involved in the development of the legal frameworks governing medicines, medical devices and cosmetics in Botswana.

Ms. Sophie Molle
Senior Healthcare Manager
GS1 Global Office

After 8 years working in the fight against illicit trade at the World Customs Organisation and Cotecna Inspection, Sophie has joined GS1 Healthcare to lead the Solution partners global initiative as well as the Business development. She is also in charge of strengthening the relationship within the GS1 Healthcare community and developing strategic partnerships with other international organisations. Advocating GS1 standards and global harmonisation around the world, Sophie is an active contributor of the IMPACCT group working on the topic of importation of medicine and medical equipment during disease outbreaks.

Dr. Mohammed Zurga
Director, Global Pharmaceutical Services Unit
International Medical Corps

Dr. Mohammed Zurga is a senior global public health and supply chain leader with experience in the areas of essential medicines and health commodity management systems. As Director of the Global Pharmaceutical Services Unit at International Medical Corps, Dr. Zurga leads a variety of technical initiatives to strengthen pharmaceutical services across the board. He serves as the principal technical advisor for the development and global deployment of the Pharmaceutical Information Management System©.

Dr. Rispah Walumbe
Health Policy Advisor
Amref Health Africa

Dr Rispah Walumbe is a Global health specialist with 7+ years of experience in advocacy and healthcare policy at a national, regional, and global level. Her focus and training are in Healthcare Policy and Financing, and currently practices as a Health Policy Advisor at Amref Health Africa. Her work in advocacy and technical support includes the advancement of the Universal Health Coverage agenda. Her advocacy experience, which she began as a medical student, stretches from the local to the global stage on matters ranging from health to social protection and the youth agenda. As a student she has lobbied for the rights of youth at the Open Working Groups for the Sustainable Development Goals in New York where she delivered an intervention from youth all over the world. She additionally has a background in medicine with training and practice in Kenya predominantly working in rural and low-income urban areas. She has supported, trained, and mentored over 200 healthcare workers across Kenya in Emergency Obstetric and Neonatal Care services, and trained over 100 public health practitioners in healthcare policy. Her recent portfolio includes leading the secretariat for National Hospital Insurance Fund health financing reforms panel in Kenya for Universal Health Coverage through the Ministry of Health and lending her technical expertise to the organisation and coordination of the secretariat at the AHAIC Commission on the State of UHC in Africa.

Dr. Gerard Servais
Technical Team Leader
German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ)

Gerard Servais’ background is medical doctor. He worked for 6 years in South Sudan, Chad and Laos Asia for the charity Médecins Sans Frontières. From 1995 to 2010, he joined the German Technical Cooperation Agency (GTZ) in Burkina Faso and Indonesia (West-Timor and Aceh provinces). In 1995, he received a Master of Public Health Degree from the Harvard School of Public Health. In 2006, he completed a Master of Business Administration Degree in the University of Leuven – Ghent in Belgium. He joined the ADB's South East Asia Regional Department in 2010 as Senior Health Specialist. In ADB, he managed and processed projects in Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Philippines and Viet Nam, focusing on communicable diseases control, local health care services, social health insurance and health human resources development. He joined GIZ again in July 2021 as technical team leader of the Covid-19 relevant Medical and Pharmaceutical Products (CMPP) component of the project Support towards Industrialisation and the Productive Sectors in the SADC region (SIPS).

Yazeed Ayasra
Director, Health Systems Applications
International Medical Corps

Health Informatics Specialist & Medical Doctor, proven performer in software/database architecture development and design within the healthcare sector. 10 years of software development experience and has been engaged with humanitarian workflow automation for the past 7 years. The chief developer of PIMS and other health informatics tools within International Medical Corps.

Dr. Anastasia Nyalita
Chief Executive Officer
Kenya Healthcare Federation, KHF

Dr. Anastasia Nyalita is Chief Executive Officer of Kenya Healthcare Federation, KHF and Lead Director at Integral Health Limited. Dr. Nyalita did her undergraduate training in Pharmacy at the University of Nairobi, Kenya and obtained her post-graduate degree in Business Management, MBA, from the same University. She is also a certified Corporate Governance Trainer as well as a Board Evaluations & Assessments Trainer. She has a solid background in Business Leadership, Commercial Operations and Technical Operations, having led and excelled in these roles during her tenures in various Multi-National Pharmaceutical Organizations with responsibilities across Sub Saharan Africa and South East Asia. As the Chief Executive Officer of Kenya Healthcare Federation, she is currently leading the Policy & Advocacy agenda for the Private Health Sector in Kenya, including Public-Private Dialogues (PPDs) and Public-Private Partnerships, PPP, in the Kenya Private Health Sector. Dr. Nyalita is the Lead Director, Integral Health Limited, a Kenyan based dynamic health and business management organization with access to expert resources to support the sales & marketing, manufacturing, operational, planning, and transactional support needs of Biopharmaceuticals, Medical Devices, Consumer Health, Health Technologies, and other organizations with an interest in Health. Dr. Nyalita is a member of the Institute of Directors – Kenya, IoD-K, and has served in the Boards of Kenya Medical Supplies Authority, KEMSA, and the Pharmacy & Poisons Board, PPB, Kenya’s Health Authority for regulation of pharmaceuticals, medical devices, health technologies and related products.

George Afful
Med4All Manager
Pharmaccess Group, Ghana

George Afful serves as the Manager of ‘Med4All’ for the PharmAccess Group, Ghana. PharmAccess is a dynamic international non-profit organization with a digital agenda, dedicated to connecting more people to better healthcare in sub-Saharan Africa. Med4All leverages digital technology to strengthen the supply chain of medicines, with the aim of making quality medicines available to everyone in Ghana. In his role as Med4All Manager, he works closely with the Christian Health Association of Ghana (CHAG) to oversee the expansion of the digital supply chain platform. He has over fifteen years of senior level experience in both public and private sectors in areas of Clinical Pharmacy and Public Health practice, Essential Medicines Management as well as Managerial Leadership and Mentorship for Pharmaceutical Students. He holds a Bachelor of Pharmacy and a Master of Clinical Pharmacy degrees from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Ghana. He also hold a Master of Public Health from the Royal Tropical Institute in Amsterdam, the Netherlands and Membership Certificate from West Africa Postgraduate College of Pharmacist. Among other qualifications, he has certificate in Leadership and Management in Health from the University of Washington (USA) and a certificate in Health Administration and Management, from the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration.

Mrs Azuka Okeke
CEO
Africa Resource Center for Excellence in Supply Chain Management (ARC_ESM)

Azuka is the Chief Executive Officer of ARC_ESM. She oversees supply chain transformation projects in Nigeria and has also supported other African countries in strengthening their health systems. She is best known for her expertise in engaging governments and development partners, supporting them to prioritize and invest in health supply chain programmes in Africa. Her work has improved financial investments by the Federal and State governments in Nigeria and co-investments worth over $8,000,000 (Eight Million US Dollars) from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, The Global Fund, and GAVI. Azuka is well known for the role she plays as a Thought Partner and Advisor to National Ministries of Health in Africa. Beyond government engagements, she has successfully facilitated Public-Private Partnerships for innovative health financing through platforms such as the World Economic Forum and recently ARC. Currently, she has pioneered the set-up of a first of its kind Membership Platform for the private sector in Nigeria through which private corporates and individual experts have contributed about $700,000 (Seven Hundred Thousand US Dollars) to public health programmes within the past four years. Her ambition is to provide governments and partners with a pragmatic framework for sustainability and country ownership for supply chain delivery. Her most recent aspiration is in advocating for human capital development in Africa and championing a collaboration with MIT Boston, Zaragoza Logistics Centre, Spain, and six local universities in Nigeria to set-up a Pan-African Centre of Excellence for Supply Chain Management.

Jean-Cedric Meeus
Chief Global transport
UNICEF

Jean-Cedric Meeus work focusses on improving supply chains with UNICEF since 2001. He is currently the Chief of Global Transport at UNICEF Supply Division covering off shore and in-land distribution. Since 2001, Jean-Cedric performed in different Supply chain functions based in Mozambique, HQ NY (Supply Emergency Response Officer), HQ Copenhagen (Chief Emergency Supply Manager), Dakar Regional office of Western and Central Africa as regional (RO Supply Chain manager) to finally take his current position in Copenhagen. Prior to UNICEF, Jean-Cedric performed as Supply and Program Technical Specialist with MSF for 9 years in different countries. Jean-Cedric has led and managed emergency operations and Supply chain teams in a wide range of global humanitarian crises and development programs over the past three decades. Constantly seeking new challenges, and through humanitarian and private sector networks, he strives to improve delivery of humanitarian aid by influencing and implementing practical, innovative changes. Through Jean-Cedric’s different positions he managed pharmaceuticals, immunization, health, education and WASH commodities to be delivered from origin to beneficiaries in support to UNICEF and government program activities.

Dr. Emmanuel Agogo
Country Representative
RTSL ( Resolve to Save Lives)

Dr. Emmanuel Agogo has more than 20 years’ experience in public health. In his capacity as Country Representative for Nigeria at Resolve to Save Lives, he oversees efforts to prevent epidemics and improve cardiovascular health in Nigeria. Dr. Agogo previously served in leadership roles at Nigeria’s National Agency for the Control of HIV/AIDS and the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control. He is a subject matter expert on Joint External Evaluation Missions and has practiced primary care and family medicine in Nigeria and the United Kingdom. Dr. Agogo holds a Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery from the University of Ibadan, a Master of Science in Primary and Community Health from the University of Birmingham and a Master of Tropical Medicine and Infectious Diseases with distinction from the University of Liverpool. He is a fellow of the Royal College of General Practitioners. He was a 2019 biosecurity leadership fellow at the Centre for health security at Johns Hopkins University Centre for Health Security and is currently one of the 20 pioneer Africa CDC Kofi Anan Public Health leadership fellows.

Dr. Stavros Nicolaou
Group Senior Executive, Strategic Trade Development
Aspen Pharmacare Holdings Ltd

Stavros Nicolaou is the Aspen Pharmacare Group’s Senior Executive responsible for Strategic Trade Development. Previously he was CEO of Aspen’s Export Business. Aspen is Africa’s largest pharmaceutical manufacturer and a now world leader in Anaesthetics and injectable anti-coagulants. Aspen is one of South Africa’s most globalised multinational companies with a presence in over 50 geographies globally, with 26 manufacturing facilities across 6 continents. He was instrumental in introducing the first generic ARV’s on the African Continent developed by Aspen, which has gone on to save hundreds of thousands of lives in South Africa and on the African Continent. Nicolaou has over 30 years’ experience in the South African and International Pharmaceutical Industry and is a previous winner of the SA Institute of Marketing Management (IMM) Health Care Marketer of the year Award. He was a previous recipient Monty Rubenstein Award for proficiency in Pharmaceutics from the Wits University Pharmacy Faculty. He was awarded, the Order of the Lion of St Mark by the Greek Orthodox Pope and Patriarch, Theodoros II. He has been inducted as a Fellow of the Pharmaceutical Society of South Africa (PSSA), one of the highest honours bestowed by the PSSA, and was recently awarded an Honorary Doctor of Science in Medicine from Wits University. He has been a speaker at a number of conferences, including the Economist Roundtable, the World Economic Forum (WEF) and recently delivered a lecture on ARV developments at the Raigon Institute, a JV between Harvard Medical School and the Massachusetts General Hospital.

Remo Hanselmann
Managing Director
World Courier

Remo Hanselmann is Managing Director at World Courier South Africa with the remit to grow World Couriers footprint in Africa and to ensure the optimal handling, transport and delivery of healthcare products across Africa. His current focus is to drive World courier’s view on clinical Trial and Cool Chain Logistics in the healthcare market in Africa, in an effort to advance healthcare across the continent. Remo, a native Swiss has over 20 years’ worth of experience in Aviation, Cargo and Special Logistics, having worked in leading global organizations, including Swisscargo, Qatar Airways, Aer Lingus, and Swiss International Air Lines.

Ap Boom
CFO
TAPA EMEA

Ap is a former volunteer member of TAPA EMEA’s Board of Directors and joined in February 2021 the professional TAPA EMEA team in the role of Chief Financial and Compliance Officer after more than 20 years in the security industry, holding senior security management roles in the retail and ICT services sectors. Ap’s career in supply chain security started when he joined TNT in 2009 and, later, DHL International. Prior to accepting this new post, he spent over four years with Amazon, latterly as Senior Manager EMEA Security & Loss Prevention. His goal is to realize that TAPA EMEA will be recognised as the best-in-class Supply Chain Resilience knowledge organisation, assisting supply chain buyers, service providers and suppliers with the best Security and Resilience framework and solutions.

Ebrima S. Jabbi
Health Officer
Gambia Red Cross Society

Ebrima S. Jabbi, Born in the Gambia year 07/11/1987. Attended Gambia College school of Public Health from 2007 to 2010, and now final year student on Bsc in Environmental sciences at University of the Gambia. Worked as Public Health Officer for Ministry of Health Gambia Government from 2011 to 2015 and Now working with the Gambia Red Cross Society as Health Officer since 2016.