CEO of PharmAccess and Founder of SafeCare has stressed the need to achieve international healthcare standards through locally driven solutions.

Dr. Nicole Spieker emphasised that quality in healthcare should not be defined by geographic boundaries.

Speaking at the commissioning of the CHAG-SafeCare Hub in Accra, Dr. Spieker urged healthcare systems to integrate local innovations into the global vision for excellence.

She stated that while the goal of high-quality healthcare is universal, reaching that goal requires local thinking, innovations, and context-specific solutions.

"Quality standards and quality levels are international. There shouldn’t be an African-based quality. It should be international quality, but the means to getting to that international level requires local thinking, local solutions, and local innovations," Dr Spieker explained.

The SafeCare Founder also pointed out the stark reality that millions of lives are lost each year not only due to a lack of healthcare access but also due to poor quality of care.

"We’re losing every year worldwide, three million people to lack of access to quality care but five million people to lack of quality care," she said, stressing that improving quality is just as important as expanding access.

She commended Ghana for its leadership in Universal Health Coverage (UHC) but warned that quality care must go hand-in-hand with healthcare financing to be truly effective.

"Ghana has been a leader on the continent in showing how inclusive healthcare financing can work, but it can only work if it goes hand in hand with that quality of care," she remarked.

Dr. Spieker also praised CHAG for its commitment to improving healthcare quality, even in challenging environments.

"Institutionalisation and commitment of CHAG to take leadership and ownership and showing that quality of care really is possible even in challenged environments," she said.

PharmAccess, in collaboration with the WHO and CDC Africa, continues to work on improving healthcare access and quality globally.

Dr Spieker reaffirmed the importance of these partnerships in building resilient healthcare systems that can withstand future health crises, emphasising that much work remains to meet the 2030 healthcare goals.

As part of this effort, the CHAG-SafeCare Hub will serve as a key resource for CHAG’s network of health facilities, promoting training, research, and safe healthcare practices.

"We’re not just commissioning a building here. We’re commissioning that quality is in the hearts, souls, and minds of everyone here, and that’s the true institutionalisation," she said.

Dr. Spieker asured that the commissioning of the Hub marks the beginning of a larger movement to institutionalise quality care in every facility, ensuring it is at the heart of every healthcare professional's work.