The Prince Leopold Institute of Tropical Medicine (ITM), Belgium

ITM in Antwerp is one of the world's leading institutes for training, research and technical assistance in tropical medicine and healthcare in developing countries. In total, the Institute employs about 415 full-time employees, technicians and supporting personnel.

The Department of Public Health research portfolio covers the domains of disease control, health policy, access to care, quality and human resources. The department’s research priorities are primarily based on the relevance for healthcare systems in developing countries, on the core values of primary healthcare - the universal right of every person to accessible, effective and high quality health services - and the pursuit of added value or innovation in international health policies. The unit “Public Sector Care Unit”, involved in Equity-LA II, widely performs action-research to promote the provision, management, financing and health policies for non-profit. Cambridge University Press published twelve years of research on international health policies of this unit “International Health and Aid Policies: the need for alternatives”.

Staff involved in the project

Principal Investigator: Jean-Pierre Unger is a specialist in health systems organization with experience in planning and management in Latin America, Asia and Africa.

Principal Investigator: Bruno Marchal is Head of the Health Systems Organization Unit in the Department of Public Health at the Institute of Tropical Medicine (IMT) in Antwerp, Belgium and an eventual researcher at the School of Public Health at the University of Western Cape, In South Africa. Currently, his main topics of interest are to investigate the stewardship of local health systems and new approaches to complex health problems (including the realistic approach) and to conditions of chronic diseases and aging.

Annelies De Potter, is collaborator.

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They collaborated in the early stages of the project:

Dr. Pierre De Paepe, MD, MPH, is an expert who worked in health district development and health sector reform in Latin America for over two decades. He coordinated PHC programmes in Peru and Argentina, and provided technical assistance to the Ministry of Health of Ecuador during the health sector reform. Collaborated on the project until December 2016.

Ariadna Nebot until May 2018 worked on the project as a junior researcher in the Health Systems Organization Unit at the IMT.