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PharmAccess Group announces new CEO

The Supervisory Board of PharmAccess Group is pleased to announce the appointment of Monique Dolfing-Vogelenzang as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of PharmAccess, effective 1 May 2018.

  • May 01, 2018
The Supervisory Board of PharmAccess Group is pleased to announce the appointment of Monique Dolfing-Vogelenzang as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of PharmAccess, effective 1 May 2018. The late Professor Joep Lange founded the organization in 2001, dedicated to turn research into action by bringing HIV/AIDS treatment to Africa. Since then, PharmAccess has helped millions of people get access to better healthcare. Monique will lead PharmAccess Group in its mission to connect all Africans to better healthcare utilizing innovative strategies, such as mobile technology, sustainable finance, and insurance for low income groups. Current CEO Onno Schellekens will take up a new role as CEO of CarePay International, an emerging social enterprise to facilitate transactions in the health sector.

Monique joined PharmAccess in 2008, where she established and managed the Medical Credit Fund, a USD 45 million social impact fund that provides loans hand in hand with capacity building activities to healthcare SMEs in Africa. In her current role as COO of PharmAccess Group, Monique has led the development of a new digital strategy that uses the transformative power of mobile technology in Africa to connect everyone to affordable healthcare.

Together with CarePay International and leading telecom provider Vodafone, PharmAccess developed a health wallet for the mobile phone, which can connect everyone with a sim card- even people living in urban slums or remote rural villages- to entitlements for healthcare against very marginal costs. Just over one year after its introduction, the health wallet now connects almost one million Kenyans and 500 healthcare providers and is set to grow further in Kenya- and other African countries. Winning the FT/IFC Transformational Business Award in 2017 was an important recognition for the transformative potential of the health wallet.

Monique takes over the work of Onno Schellekens, who since 2003 has worked to make PharmAccess a front runner in global health, pioneering inclusive market mechanisms, such as health insurance schemes for lower income groups, loans to health SMEs and quality standards specifically designed for health SMEs in resource restricted settings. In his new role at CarePay International, based in Amsterdam, Schellekens will focus on unlocking investment capital to enable CarePay International to scale further and seize the potential of its unique software and digital platform. The complementary nature of PharmAccess and CarePay will allow the two organizations to join forces from a strong public-private foundation and create maximum impact together.

‘It’s an honor to accept this position and I want to thank the Supervisory Board for placing their faith in me,’ Dolfing-Vogelenzang says. ‘PharmAccess is very well-positioned to continue the progress achieved under Onno’s leadership and I am looking forward to the work ahead. We can now accelerate our work with the end goal of connecting millions of people to better healthcare through a mobile health contract.’

Speaking on behalf of the PharmAccess Supervisory Board, Chairperson Max Coppoolse declared: ‘We are very pleased that Monique has agreed to accept the position of CEO. Her significant industry knowledge, strong management experience and institutional tenure with PharmAccess and its colleagues, donors and partners across the globe make her uniquely qualified to lead the organization into the future. We would like to thank Onno for his invaluable contributions in building PharmAccess and shaping its vision and we look forward to see our partner organization CarePay International grow globally under his leadership as well.’