Willemien Van Damme
Biographic Data
| ID | 312667 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Willemien Van Damme |
| GIVEN NAMES | Willemien |
| FAMILY NAME | Van Damme |
| SIGNATURE | VAN DAMME W |
| AFFILIATIONS | Instituut voor Tropische Geneeskunde |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-6344-3007 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 61 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 103 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 61 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1999 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 6 |
Understanding the role of family social support in the medication adherence to hypertension treatment in Cambodia
The role of social support from family members was very positive in enhancing medication adherence among patients with HTN in Cambodia. Potential strategic interventions should include focus on establishing an intervention involving family members to provide support for HTN treatment
Does Increasing Ethnic Diversity Challenge the Rural Idyll? An Analysis of Frames on Ethnic Diversity in Relation to Rurality in the Flemish Written Press (Belgium)
The social construction of rurality remains a collective fantasy of a safe, green, ethnically homogeneous environment. This fantasy, called “the rural idyll,” still dominates the way in which people give meaning to their lives, the lives of others, and the places where they live. This idyll is based on an interrelated urban/ethnic diverse versus rural/white dichotomy, even as rural areas are in fact becoming more ethnically diverse. The question …
Shaping the future of global access to safe, effective, appropriate and quality health products
status: Published
Using a policy learning lens to understand health financing policy outcomes
INTRODUCTION: Achieving universal health coverage (UHC) through an effective health financing system is a challenge for many low-income countries. Learning is key to success due to many uncertainties and unknowns. Using the case of translating strategic health purchasing into policy and practice in Burkina Faso, our study seeks to understand how policy learning can shape policy processes and outcomes. METHODS: We used a qualitative case study des…
Country-Specific Roadmaps for Scaling Up Integrated Care in Belgium, Slovenia, and Cambodia – Lessons Learned from the SCUBY Project
Introduction: The SCUBY project aimed to provide knowledge on the scaling-up of an Integrated Care Package (ICP) for type 2 diabetes and hypertension across three distinct health systems (Cambodia, Slovenia, and Belgium). Here, we analyse the different elements of the country-specific scale-up roadmaps to identify similarities and differences, and share lessons learned. Methods: Thematic analysis was used to derive crucial roadmap elements from k…
Exploring different health care providers ́ perceptions on the management of diarrhoea in cholera hotspots in the Democratic Republic of Congo
Global cholera guidelines support wider healthcare system strengthening interventions, alongside vertical outbreak responses, to end cholera. Well-trained healthcare providers are essential for a resilient health system and can create synergies with childhood diarrhoea, which has higher mortality. We explored how the main provider groups for diarrhoea in cholera hotspots interact, decide on treatment, and reflect on possible limiting factors and …
Scale-Up of Integrated Care Interventions for Chronic Diseases in Diverse Settings
The global burden of chronic conditions such as Type 2 Diabetes (T2DM) and hypertension (HTN) is increasing exponentially, not only in high-income countries (HIC) but also, and more rapidly, in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC). Health systems worldwide struggle to manage this growing burden. Integrated interventions for prevention, detection, treatment, and control of T2DM and HTN have been previously demonstrated to be effective in contro…
An in-depth Analysis of the Degree of Implementation of Integrated Care for Diabetes in Primary Health Care in Cambodia
The evidence suggests that while each care initiative has its potential contributions towards integrated care for T2D, the three care initiatives should be effectively implemented in an integrated manner in order to potentially produce the desired outcomes
Examining Macro-Level Barriers and Facilitators to Scaling Up Integrated Care from a Complexity Perspective
Examining differences and similarities between barriers in each health system stimulated reciprocal learning. Interactions between health system barriers in specific contexts require further attention to move complex health systems forward
Scaling-up integrated type-2 diabetes and hypertension care in Cambodia
Background: Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as type-2 diabetes (T2D) and hypertension (HTN) pose a massive burden on health systems, especially in low- and middle-income countries. In Cambodia, to tackle this issue, the government and partners have introduced several limited interventions to ensure service availability. However, scaling-up these health system interventions is needed to ensure universal supply and access to NCDs care for Cam…
Descriptive assessment of Covid-19 responses and lessons learnt in Cambodia, January 2020 to June 2022
As a member state of the International Health Regulations 2005, Cambodia is continuously strengthening its capacity to respond to health emergencies and prevent the international spread of diseases. Despite this, Cambodia’s capacity to prevent, detect and rapidly respond to public health threats remained limited at the onset of the pandemic, as was the case in most countries. This paper describes epidemiological phases, response phases, strategy …
Using the multiple streams model to elicit an initial programme theory
INTRODUCTION: The 'SCale-Up diaBetes and hYpertension care' Project aims to support the scale-up of integrated care for diabetes and hypertension in Cambodia, Slovenia and Belgium through the co-creation, implementation and evaluation of contextualised roadmaps. These roadmaps offer avenues for action and are built on evidence as well as stakeholder engagement in policy dialogues. Roadmaps and policy dialogues are very much intertwined and consid…
Hardship financing, productivity loss, and the economic cost of illness and injury in Cambodia
Such losses can be mitigated with policy measures such as linking a catastrophic health coverage mechanism to the Health Equity Funds, capping interest rates on health-related loans, and using loan guarantees to incentivize microfinance institutions and banks to refinance health-related, high-interest loans from money lenders. These measures could strengthen social health protection by enhancing financial risk protection, mitigating vulnerability…
Workshop launch of the Ijic Thematic issue on scale-up of integrated care interventions for chronic diseases in three diverse settings
Chronic diseases – such as Type 2 Diabetes (T2D) and hypertension (HTN) – are on the rise globally, regardless of country income levels. A vast range of policy initiatives and interventions stimulates principles of integrated care – to prevent and manage T2D and HTN. These integrated care interventions, shown to be effective in small-scale settings, whilst mostly not technically nor medically complex, tend to be organizationally challenging: they…
Lessons on chronic care organisation during the Covid-19 pandemic in Cambodia, Slovenia, and Belgium. Covid as a magnifying glass on primary health care
Introduction: Primary health care (PHC) systems worldwide have been challenged by the COVID-19 pandemic. Some patients couldn’t access care or services were not available. Background: Fuelled by different health systems, the impact on NCD care has been different in the three countries under research: Cambodia (a developing health system in a middle-income country), Slovenia (a centrally-steered health system in a high-income country), and Belgium…
Learning from the Covid-19 pandemic for future epidemics and pandemics preparedness and response in Guinea
The outbreak of the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) in December 2019 prompted a response from health systems of countries across the globe. The first case of COVID-19 in Guinea was notified on 12 March 2020; however, from January 2020 preparations at policy and implementation preparedness levels had already begun. This study aimed to assess the response triggered in Guinea between 27 th January 2020 and 1 st November 2021 and lessons for future pa…
Attributes of national governance for an effective response to public health emergencies
Background: The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic takes variable shapes and forms in different regions and countries. This variability is explained by several factors, including the governance of the epidemic. We aimed to identify the key attributes of governance in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and gain lessons for an effective response to public health emergencies. Methods: We employed a mixed-methods design. We mapped the attrib…
Analysis of the Covid-19 pandemic
BACKGROUND: The pandemic of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a timely reminder of the nature and impact of Public Health Emergencies of International Concern. As of 12 January 2022, there were over 314 million cases and over 5.5 million deaths notified since the start of the pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic takes variable shapes and forms, in terms of cases and deaths, in different regions and countries of the world. The objective of this st…
Reimagining global health systems for the 21st century
box The COVID-19 pandemic is a timely reminder of the nature and impact of global health threats that could become Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC).1 The virus has spread quickly to all countries (although with variable epidemiological patterns), and has overwhelmed even some of the most advanced health systems.2 As of 12 April 2021, the pandemic has caused more than 136 million cases and 2.93 million deaths.3 But beyond m…
Guinea’s response to syndemic hotspots
box ### Syndemic hotspots The Guinean health system has been severely overstretched this year. It has to deal with several concurrent (re-)emerging infectious diseases—Ebola, Lassa fever, measles, meningitis, yellow fever, vaccine-derived poliomyelitis1—as well as a second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic (figure 1). A case of the highly infectious Marburg viral disease was also detected in August.2 Figure 1 Geographical distribution of COVID-19, Eb…
Evolution of the Covid-19 pandemic over six weeks in four French-speaking countries in West Africa
Over the first six weeks of COVID-19, the incidence of the disease increased rapidly in Guinea which performed more screening tests than the other three countries; Mali and Burkina Faso had higher positivity and case fatality rates, respectively
Leveraging smart glasses for telemedicine to improve primary healthcare services and referrals in a remote rural district, Kingandu, DRC, 2019–2020
BACKGROUND: Telemedicine enables new forms of medical consultation and is expanding worldwide. Patients in sub-Saharan Africa could potentially benefit substantially from telemedicine. OBJECTIVE: To improve primary healthcare services, especially referrals to the district hospital, for the population in three health centres in the rural district Kingandu in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) by introducing Smart Glasses, and leveraging th…
Adherence to Covid-19 Prevention Measures in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Results of Two Consecutive Online Surveys
Adherence to preventive measures is essential to reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission. Two online surveys were conducted in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) from 23 April to 8 June 2020, and from August 24th to September 8th, respectively. A total of 3268 (round 1) and 4160 (round 2) participants were included. In both surveys, there was a moderate level of adherence to regular handwashing (85% and 77%, respectively), wearing of fac…
Intimate Partners Violence against Women during a Covid-19 Lockdown Period
Intimate Partners' Violence (IPV) is a public health problem with long-lasting mental and physical health consequences for victims and their families. As evidence has been increasing that COVID-19 lockdown measures may exacerbate IPV, our study sought to describe the magnitude of IPV in women and identify associated determinants. An online survey was conducted in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) from 24 August to 8 September 2020. Of the 41…
Willingness to comply with physical distancing measures against Covid-19 in four African countries
box The world is facing an unprecedented crisis related to the COVID-19 pandemic with many unknowns, which has led to much confusion and anxiety.1 Public health measures have for centuries been the cornerstone of the response to epidemics.2 Among them, physical distancing measures aim to reduce contact between infected and uninfected people.3 As part of the global COVID-19 response, they have been widely used to slow down the spread of the virus …
Addressing access barriers to health services
While World Health Organization member countries embraced the concept of universal coverage as early as 2005, few low-income countries have yet achieved the objective. This is mainly due to numerous barriers that hamper access to needed health services. In this paper we provide an overview of the various dimensions of barriers to access to health care in low-income countries (geographical access, availability, affordability and acceptability) and…
Scaling-up antiretroviral treatment in Southern African countries with human resource shortage
Improving access to hospital care for the poor
There is a large body of evidence that user fees in the health sector create exclusion. Health equity funds attempt to improve access to health care services for the poorest by paying the provider on their behalf. This paper reviews four hospital-based health equity funds in Cambodia and draws lessons for future operations. It investigates the practical questions of 'who should do what and how'. It presents, in a comparative framework, similariti…
Access to medicines from a health system perspective
Most health system strengthening interventions ignore interconnections between systems components. In particular, complex relationships between medicines and health financing, human resources, health information and service delivery are not given sufficient consideration. As a consequence, populations' access to medicines (ATM) is addressed mainly through fragmented, often vertical approaches usually focusing on supply, unrelated to the wider iss…
Composition of pluralistic health systems
In spite of all efforts to build national health services, health systems of many low-income countries are today highly pluralistic. Households use a vast range of public and private health care providers, many of whom are not controlled by national health authorities. Experts have called on Ministries of Health to re-establish themselves as stewards of the entire health system. Modern stewardship will require national and decentralized health au…
Public-sector ART in the Free State Province, South Africa
How Liberian and Sierra Leonean Refugees Settled in the Forest Region of Guinea (1990-96)
Refugees in sub-Saharan Africa are often seen as homogeneous flows of victims, settling in camps and dependent on outside help. The 500, 000 refugees who settled between 1990 and 1995 in the Forest Region of Guinea present a very different picture. These refugees fled the civil strife that started in late 1989 in Liberia and later spread to Sierra Leone. There was a series of different refugee waves. During 1990–91, four major waves of early arri…
Community health insurance in Gudalur, India, increases access to hospital care
BACKGROUND: To reduce the burden of out-of-pocket payments on households in India, the government has introduced community health insurance (CHI) as part of its National Rural Health Mission. Indian CHI schemes have been shown to provide financial protection and have the potential to improve quality of care, but do not seem to improve access. This study examines this dimension of CHI performance and explores conditions under which a CHI scheme ca…
Can social accountability improve access to free public health care for the poor? Analysis of three Health Equity Fund configurations in Cambodia, 2015–17
Within the context of universal health coverage, community participation has been identified as instrumental to facilitate access to health services. Social accountability whereby citizens hold providers and policymakers accountable is one popular approach. This article describes one example, that of Community-Managed Health Equity Funds (CMHEFs), as an approach to community engagement in Cambodia to improve poor people’s use of their entitlement…
Health System Strengthening and Scaling Up Antiretroviral Therapy
In this issue Schneider and colleagues point to some of the health system challenges for scaling up antiretroviral (ARV) therapy to the majority of the people living with HIV and AIDS (PLWHAs) who will need it over the coming years. They assume that in low-income countries financial resources and supplies of drugs do not constitute anymore the most important obstacles to widespread ARV use. Indeed many of the countries most affected by HIV now ha…
Medical Assistance to Self‐settled Refugees
How Liberian and Sierra Leonean Refugees Settled in the Forest Region of Guinea (1990-96)
Refugees in sub-Saharan Africa are often seen as homogeneous flows of victims, settling in camps and dependent on outside help. The 500, 000 refugees who settled between 1990 and 1995 in the Forest Region of Guinea present a very different picture. These refugees fled the civil strife that started in late 1989 in Liberia and later spread to Sierra Leone. There was a series of different refugee waves. During 1990–91, four major waves of early arri…
Forced Migration and Mortality
1Institute of Tropical Medicine, Antwerp, Belgium, and Médecins Sans Frontières, Cambodia Forced Migration and Mortality Holly E. Reed Charles B. Keely Washington, DC National Academy Press 2001 xiv + 145 0 309 07334 0
Out‐of‐pocket health expenditure and debt in poor households
Objectives To document how out‐of‐pocket health expenditure can lead to debt in a poor rural area in Cambodia. Methods After a dengue epidemic, 72 households with a dengue patient were interviewed to document health‐seeking behaviour, out‐of‐pocket expenditure, and how they financed such expenditure. One year later, a follow‐up visit investigated how the 26 households with an initial debt had coped with it. Results The amount of out‐of‐pocket hea…
Malaria Control during Mass Population Movements and Natural Disasters
Malaria Control during Mass Population Movements and Natural Disasters By Peter B. Bloland and Holly A. Williams . Washington: National Academy Press , 2003 . xiii + 163 nps. ISBN 0 309 08615 9
Systèmes de santé des pays à faible revenu
Les pays à faible revenu sont confrontés à de nombreux défis sanitaires. S'il est vrai que les ressources consacrées aux services de santé sont insuffisantes et qu'un effort accru du Nord est indispensable, une réflexion sur la façon dont les systèmes de santé du Sud sont organisés est également nécessaire. Revoir les configurations institutionnelles sous-jacentes soulève plusieurs questions. Cet article présente plusieurs d'entre elles et suggèr…
Health System Strengthening and Scaling Up Antiretroviral Therapy
In this issue Schneider and colleagues point to some of the health system challenges for scaling up antiretroviral (ARV) therapy to the majority of the people living with HIV and AIDS (PLWHAs) who will need it over the coming years. They assume that in low-income countries financial resources and supplies of drugs do not constitute anymore the most important obstacles to widespread ARV use. Indeed many of the countries most affected by HIV now ha…
Improving access to hospital care for the poor
There is a large body of evidence that user fees in the health sector create exclusion. Health equity funds attempt to improve access to health care services for the poorest by paying the provider on their behalf. This paper reviews four hospital-based health equity funds in Cambodia and draws lessons for future operations. It investigates the practical questions of 'who should do what and how'. It presents, in a comparative framework, similariti…
The 'diagonal' approach to Global Fund financing
BACKGROUND: The potentially destructive polarisation between 'vertical' financing (aiming for disease-specific results) and 'horizontal' financing (aiming for improved health systems) of health services in developing countries has found its way to the pages of Foreign Affairs and the Financial Times. The opportunity offered by 'diagonal' financing (aiming for disease-specific results through improved health systems) seems to be obscured in this p…
Scaling-up antiretroviral treatment in Southern African countries with human resource shortage
Public-sector ART in the Free State Province, South Africa
Community health insurance in Gudalur, India, increases access to hospital care
BACKGROUND: To reduce the burden of out-of-pocket payments on households in India, the government has introduced community health insurance (CHI) as part of its National Rural Health Mission. Indian CHI schemes have been shown to provide financial protection and have the potential to improve quality of care, but do not seem to improve access. This study examines this dimension of CHI performance and explores conditions under which a CHI scheme ca…
Interactions between critical health system functions and HIV/Aids, tuberculosis and malaria programmes
The growing caseload of chronic life-long conditions calls for a move towards full self-management in low-income countries
BACKGROUND: The growing caseload caused by patients with chronic life-long conditions leads to increased needs for health care providers and rising costs of health services, resulting in a heavy burden on health systems, populations and individuals. The professionalised health care for chronic patients common in high income countries is very labour-intensive and expensive. Moreover, the outcomes are often poor. In low-income countries, the scarce…
The Health Systems Funding Platform
BACKGROUND: In March 2009, the Task Force for Innovative International Financing for Health Systems recommended "a health systems funding platform for the Global Fund, GAVI Alliance, the World Bank and others to coordinate, mobilize, streamline and channel the flow of existing and new international resources to support national health strategies." Momentum to establish the Health Systems Funding Platform was swift, with the World Bank convening a…
Composition of pluralistic health systems
In spite of all efforts to build national health services, health systems of many low-income countries are today highly pluralistic. Households use a vast range of public and private health care providers, many of whom are not controlled by national health authorities. Experts have called on Ministries of Health to re-establish themselves as stewards of the entire health system. Modern stewardship will require national and decentralized health au…
The Health System Dynamics Framework
Frameworks can clarify concepts and improve understanding of underlying mechanisms in the domain of health systems research and strengthening. Many existing frameworks have a limited capacity to analyze interactions and equilibriums within a health system overlooking values as an underlying steering mechanism. This paper introduces the health system dynamics framework and demonstrates its application as a tool for analysis and modelling. The adde…
“I Wish I Had Aids”
Financially stricken Cambodian patients with diabetes and HIV/AIDS typically encounter multiple, serious barriers to effective care. This process may extend over many years and involve numerous rounds of diagnosis and treatment as the disease progresses from initial symptoms to longer term complications. Living with both the impact of the disease and this ongoing struggle for care can severely disrupt the everyday life of both sufferers and their…
Health systems frameworks in their political context
Health systems theories and frameworks frame health, health systems and policies in particular political and public health paradigms. While there is a clear trend to try to understand the complexity of and dynamic relationships between elements of health systems, there is also a demand to provide frameworks that distinguish between health system interventions, and that allow mapping with a view of analysing their returns. The choice for a particu…
Addressing access barriers to health services
While World Health Organization member countries embraced the concept of universal coverage as early as 2005, few low-income countries have yet achieved the objective. This is mainly due to numerous barriers that hamper access to needed health services. In this paper we provide an overview of the various dimensions of barriers to access to health care in low-income countries (geographical access, availability, affordability and acceptability) and…
Analysis of human resources for health strategies and policies in 5 countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, in response to GFATM and Pepfar-funded HIV-activities
BACKGROUND: Global Health Initiatives (GHIs), aiming at reducing the impact of specific diseases such as Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), have flourished since 2000. Amongst these, PEPFAR and GFATM have provided a substantial amount of funding to countries affected by HIV, predominantly for delivery of antiretroviral therapy (ARV) and prevention strategies. Since the need for additional human resources for health (HRH) was not initially consid…
Access to medicines from a health system perspective
Most health system strengthening interventions ignore interconnections between systems components. In particular, complex relationships between medicines and health financing, human resources, health information and service delivery are not given sufficient consideration. As a consequence, populations' access to medicines (ATM) is addressed mainly through fragmented, often vertical approaches usually focusing on supply, unrelated to the wider iss…
Beyond health aid
It has been argued that the international community is moving 'beyond aid'. International co-financing in the international collective interest is expected to replace altruistically motivated foreign aid. The World Health Organization promotes 'universal health coverage' as the overarching health goal for the next phase of the Millennium Development Goals. In order to provide a basic level of health care coverage, at least some countries will nee…
Scaling up antiretroviral treatment and improving patient retention in care
BACKGROUND: Antiretroviral treatment (ART) was provided to more than nine million people by the end of 2012. Although ART programs in resource-limited settings have expanded treatment, inadequate retention in care has been a challenge. Ethiopia has been scaling up ART and improving retention (defined as continuous engagement of patients in care) in care. We aimed to analyze the ART program in Ethiopia. METHODS: A mix of quantitative and qualitati…
Adapting a community-based ART delivery model to the patients’ needs
Over the past four years, the modifications in the CAG-model contributed to a patient empowerment and better treatment outcomes. One of the main outstanding questions is how this model will evolve in the future. Close monitoring is essential to ensure quality of care and to maintain the core objective of the CAG-model 'facilitating access to ART care' in a cost and time saving manner
Medicine (52 works) · Political science (37 works) · Economic growth (36 works) · Health care (36 works) · Business (31 works) · Nursing (30 works) · Economics (26 works) · Public health (26 works) · Global Maternal and Child Health (24 works) · Environmental health (23 works)