Dr. Alex Chukwuemeka Nzobiwu is a management consultant and project management specialist with over nine years of experience in the public, private and international development sectors working on strategic initiatives to deliver quality health care services to vulnerable and underserved populations in Nigeria. He is an active adviser to R4D’s Nigeria country team as well as a consultant to other global health organizations.
Previously, in Dr. Nzobiwu’s role as a senior program officer at Results for Development (R4D), Dr. Nzobiwu supported the federal government of Nigeria make feasible, evidence based HCF reform decisions through a combination of capacity building, evidence generation, and synthesis and knowledge translation. He supports health financing reforms at the federal and state level in Nigeria, involving working relationships with three federal agencies, eighteen state governments and numerous local partner organizations that seek to extend access to primary health care to every Nigerian through the sub-national joint learning network in Nigeria.
At the ministry of health, he provided technical support to the health budget process, ensuring the right processes and frameworks to improve annual health budget processes are in place. At the parastatals, he provided thought partnership and senior advisory support to NPHCDA, centering on BHCPF start-up, providing cohesive support to states, and the UHC financing role of the NPHCDA – supporting the agency develop a 10-year strategy for funding PHCs nationwide. At NHIS, his technical support is centered around development of broader demand-side financing systems. He supported the design and implementation of demand-side financing schemes for PHC services in Kaduna and Niger States.
Prior to this, Dr. Nzobiwu focused on expanding immunization coverage across six states in Northern Nigeria and specifically in Kaduna and Sokoto states where he supported the state government through the State Primary Health Care Development Agencies to strengthen its immunization system, public financial management systems at primary health clinics and full implementation of primary health care under a one-roof policy aimed at achieving UHC. He also provided strategic guidance to and played advisory roles for the National Emergency Routine Immunization Coordinating Center, National Logistics Working Group and PHC Top Management Team at NPHCDA.
Additionally, Dr. Nzobiwu was a regional broker for West Africa for the Center for Health Market Innovations, a Result for Development initiative, during which he promoted programs, policies and practices to improve the quality and affordability of health care. In this role, he facilitated the first-ever health innovation challenge in Nigeria along with the Private Sector Health Alliance of Nigeria, ReBoot and Fate Foundation which saw over 300 health innovations across Nigeria participating.
Dr. Nzobiwu has also worked with the Nigerian Navy Reference Hospital, a U.S. Department of Defense-supported clinic caring for people living with HIV/AIDS. He also has experience working as a volunteer for Mailafiya, a mobile clinic supported by the Millennium Development Goal initiative to provide free medical services to hard-to-reach, underserved communities in the Federal Capital Territory, Nigeria.
Dr. Nzobiwu is a physician and holds a medical degree from Nnamdi Azikwe University. He currently resides in Atlanta, Georgia and is an MBA candidate at the Emory University’s Goizueta Business School.
