Maryam Bello delivers climate-resilient healthcare using telemedicine, AI, and solar-powered mobile clinics across Nigeria.
When rivers overflow in South-East Nigeria, the devastation is overwhelming. In recent years, floods have displaced tens of thousands of people, destroyed thousands of homes and farmlands, submerged roads and bridges, and rendered clinics and hospitals unreachable.
According to the latest reports, the floods across Nigeria displaced over 121,000 people, destroyed more than 42,000 houses, and submerged over 48,000 hectares of farmland, causing sharp rises in infectious and waterborne diseases as health facilities became inaccessible.
Hospitals in some areas remain closed for days when floodwaters cut access routes, and roads become rivers of mud. As a result, illnesses that are normally treatable, like malaria, diarrhoea, and respiratory infections, often go untreated, turning small health problems into life-threatening emergencies.
Maryam Bello grew up watching families in rural areas lose loved ones to treatable conditions because of this. Those experiences became the driving force behind her mission to redesign how healthcare reaches people, especially in the face of a changing climate.
Thus, in 2020, she co-founded Parker’s Mobile Clinic, an initiative that combines telemedicine, artificial intelligence, and renewable energy to deliver healthcare during climate-induced disasters, such as flooding. The idea was that if people can’t get to hospitals, hospitals should come to them.
Equipped with solar power and mobile technology, the Parker’s Mobile Clinic travels to flood-prone regions in South-East Nigeria, bringing medical consultations, treatment, and preventive care directly to displaced families. Through telemedicine platforms, doctors can diagnose and treat patients remotely, while AI tools help the team predict disease outbreaks and allocate resources efficiently.
Since its launch, Parker’s Mobile Clinic has reached over 100,000 people across at least 10 vulnerable communities. But Bello didn’t stop at medical access. She understood that climate disasters also disrupt food systems, water safety, and livelihoods.
That realisation led her to create Parker’s Resilient Health Project, a broader initiative that integrates sustainable healthcare, environmental education, climate-resilient agriculture, and water and sanitation. Through this model, communities not only receive medical care but also learn how to adapt to the health impacts of climate change.
Globally, her impact has been widely recognised. She served as Technovation Youth Representative at COP27, represented Nigeria at the African Youth Climate Assembly in Kenya (2023), and became a UNDP Youth4Climate Sparking Solutions Finalist in Italy that same year. She was also a finalist for the Ashoka Green Change Makers 2023 award, and in 2024, she won the Falling Walls Engage Award for her Parker’s Resilient Health Project.
Outside the clinic, Bello’s leadership extends to ITIS 4 Development (Impact, Technology, Innovation, and Sustainability for Development), where she serves as Executive Director. The organisation focuses on environmental sustainability projects such as designing clean cook stoves to reduce carbon emissions among rural women, developing mobile apps to measure carbon footprints, and creating climate advocacy curricula tailored for young people.
Through ITIS, Maryam Bello combines her expertise in technology and sustainability to push for inclusive, community-driven solutions to environmental challenges.
Her advocacy also includes mentoring young girls in STEM education to encourage their participation in science and robotics competitions. Most recently, she was also nominated as a mentor for the Tony Elumelu Foundation.
