Prof. Dr. Helmut Brand
Helmut Brand is Professor of European Public Health at Maastricht University. He studied Medicine in Duesseldorf and Zuerich and earned a Master in Community Medicine from London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and London School of Economics. Prof. Brand is a specialist in Public Health Medicine in Germany and the UK.
After working in Health Authorities and various Ministries of Health he was director of the Public Health Institute of North Rhine Westphalia (lögd) in Germany. Since then the European Perspective in Health is the main topic of his work. The research focus of his Department of International Health at Maastricht University is on European Public Health like cross border health, comparative studies and European Integration in Public Health.
Contact:
Prof. Dr. Helmut Brand
Department of International Health
Maastricht University
P.O.Box 616
6200 MD Maastricht
The Netherlands
Tel: +31 43 38 82 204 (Secretariat: Anita Creusen)
Fax: +31 43 38 84 172
Email: helmut.brand@inthealth.unimaas.nl
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“European Public Health can grow very well in Maastricht”
The Randstad still considers Maastricht to be a provincial town, says Professor Helmut Brand. However, outside the Netherlands, Maastricht has thanks to the Treaty of Maastricht the reputation of being a European city. That makes the city attractive as a place of business for many European institutes. “European Public Health can grow very well in Maastricht.”
Helmut Brand is professor of European Public Health and he is leading the new Department of International Health of Maastricht University. His arrival at Maastricht on 1 September 2008 meant the start of the department that is hosted by CAPRHI.
Helmut Brand studied medicine in Germany and made a career in the practice of Health Care and Public Health. In the past he was already involved in the organization of the Bachelor European Public Health in Maastricht that exists for three years by now.
This autumn also the Master European Public Health will start, he tells us. “A lot of organizations have a need for people who can work from a European perspective and who know what is going on in Europe. After all more and more people are using Europe.”
Border region
That is why Maastricht has another major advantage as domicile for many European institutes, according to Helmut Brand: It is situated in a European border region.
Cross border traffic often demands for practical solutions, like for ambulance traffic, he says. And these practical solutions offer new insights that might be useful in European issues.
Take for example the European patient who gets round waiting lists in his own country and crosses the border for an operation. It is possible that during this operation equipment is being used that is prohibited in his home country, whereas his or her insurers will pay for this operation. ”In de the department, we have now several projects for these kind of subjects.”
The final goal of the Department of International Health is to advise policy makers as good as possible to increase people’s well-being. In order to give good advice the department combines Research and Education with the societal impact of Public Health. “Because that impact is big. In the case of for example a new European law for infectious diseases it is very important to advice policy makers in this, so that they can take right decisions.”
Projects
In order to approach problems from different angles, the Department of International Health is a mixed company of employees. They represent different nationalities and all have different backgrounds, varying from philosophy till epidemiology and psychology. 6 Fte in total.
Furthermore, Helmut Brand brought along two projects from Germany, including two researchers. The first project focuses on cross border care. The second project comprehends the question whether or not and to what extent civilians are able to make decisions in health care. “It is not difficult to choose the color of your car, but how do you judge for example what hospital to visit best?”
The results of this research project will be changed into advises for European policy makers, who now either adapt a paternalistic attitude or just think that civilians should have a free will. “The answer will lie somewhere in the middle.”
Helmut Brand emphasizes that Europe should be willing to help the member states. “The final responsibility for the policy lies with the member states themselves. In the end they have to make the decisions and learn from each other.”
Finally, Helmut Brand states that the Balkans, being a region in which Europe is now investing, deserve special attention. “Should we want to stimulate the development of this region, we have to help finding the answer to the question how this can be done best as ethnic, national and religious borders are all different”
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