National Keynote

Prof. Hilde Bastiaens, MD, PhD

Universiteit Antwerpen

Prof. Hilde Bastiaens, MD, PhD is a researcher and teacher at the Department of Family Medicine and Population Health of the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences of the Universiteit Antwerpen. She is co-chair of the University Centre of Qualitative Health Research Antwerp and coordinated the Horizon 2020 project SPICES (Scaling-up Packages of Interventions for Cardiovascular disease prevention in selected sites in Europe and Sub-Saharan Africa) for the past 6 years. Her research is mostly oriented towards implementation science in primary care both in HIC (High Income countries) and LMIC (Low and Middle Income Countries). Her research focusses on prevention of Non-Communicable diseases (NCDs), health promotion, person centred care, connected health and the relation between the natural living environment and (mental) health(care). Besides being an academic, she works as a general practitioner in Antwerp and as a clinician providing preventive services for young children.

General practice, primary healthcare and the community: linking the dots.

The enormous challenges in healthcare are well defined and include an aging population, the rise of chronic conditions, changing expectations and needs, scientific innovations, increasing health inequality, shortage in health staff and rising budgets. A strong primary care is a cornerstone in addressing these challenges and in the pursuit of health and well-being for all. In their ‘Vision for primary health care in the 21ste century’, WHO/UNICIF write that this future Primary Health Care (PHC) should entail three inter-related components: meeting people’s health needs throughout their life course through integrated healthcare; addressing broader determinants of health via multisectoral policies and actions; and engaging and empowering individuals, families, and communities for increased social participation and enhanced self-care and self-reliance in health.

If we want to realize this ambitious concept of PHC, a shift in the organization of primary (health)care is required, the role of general practice within this wider context will need to change and innovative primary care research is crucial to support this transformation. This lecture will sketch recent evolutions in the Belgian Healthcare Sector and will make the link with these challenges and evolutions within PHC, it will reflect on the consequent needs in primary care research and will illustrate this with concrete examples from research practice.