• Read our concept note. (Call for abstracts is closed.)
• Tuesday 20 October 2026, 10 – 5 pm CET, Egmont Palace, Place du Petit Sablon 8, 1000 Brussels & online. The link for the livestream will be provided later.
• Moderators: Annabelle Van Nieuwenhuyse & Erick Mukala
• Simultaneous translation will be provided for the plenary sessions and the parallel sessions in the Arenberg Room (see below).
• The presentations will be live or online. Not all speakers will be physically present.
• Continuously: Poster presentations (list to be added) & photo exposition (TBC)
• Side-events on 19 October, 3 – 5 pm, at Enabel, rue Haute – Hoogstraat 147, 1000 Brussels:
  • Workshop on “Planetary health and One health Caregivers – A growing Belgian network”
  • TBC: Workshop on “Growing synergy between the Be-cause health working group DRC and HubSanté
• Keep an eye on our website and our newsletters for more news!

Preliminary programme

9 – 10 am: Welcome coffee and Registration (Entrance, Atrium)

10 – 11 am: Opening, Introduction & Keynote (Arenberg Room)

• Opening and Welcome by Heidy Rombouts, Directorate General for Development Cooperation & Humanitarian Aid (DGD)
• Opening and Importance of Be-cause health by Özge Tunçalp, Institute of Tropical Medicine (ITM)
• Introduction to the conference by Erick Mukala, Chair of the Scientific Committee, Institut Supérieur des Techniques Médicales de Kananga, DRC
• When Access to Health Becomes Political Equity, Justice and the Fragility of Rights Based Healthcare by Taofeekat Adigun, University of Sheffield, UK

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11:10 am – 12:40 pm: Session 1 – Quality without borders: equity and justice in global care – La qualité sans frontières : équité et justice dans les soins à l’échelle mondiale (Orange room, French only)

• Résultats d’une étude qualitative visant à analyser la manière dont les populations défavorisées accèdent aux systèmes d’orientation et de réorientation (RCR) dans deux districts sanitaires du nord du Bénin, en Afrique de l’Ouest, par Aimé Yedenou, Centre de recherche en reproduction humaine et en démographie (CERRHUD), Bénin
• Réduire l’inégalité d’accès et assurer la continuité des soins en santé reproductive et néonatale
  rurale : la télémédecine comme levier – Expérience du District Sanitaire de Sokone, Sénégal par Wore Fall, Enabel, Sénégal
• Réduire la commercialisation des soins hospitaliers par une tarification forfaitaire subsidiée : Expérience d’Enabel à l’hôpital Bondeko à Kinshasa, RD Congo par Jean-François Busogoro, Enabel, RDC

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11:10 am – 12:40 pm: Session 2 – How do we care? Placing the patient at the centre (Arenberg room)

• Analyse des arrangements institutionnels d’une plateforme de veille citoyenne pour renforcer la redevabilité et la participation des usagers dans le cadre de la CSU : expérience pilote dans deux zones de santé de la Tshopo (RDC) par Aloys Zongo, Enabel, RDC
• Comment prenons-nous soin ? Placer le patient au centre” La participation citoyenne dans la gouvernance des systèmes de santé, à travers l’expérience de la PNUSS au Bénin par Gwladys Agbofoun, Centre de recherche en reproduction Humaine et en démographie (CERRHUD), Bénin
• Addressing the tension between market-driven pharmaceutical manufacturing and the fundamental right to health in a fragile context by Kashi Carasso, hera, Belgium
• Transformer les rapports de pouvoir pour des soins centrés sur le patient : rôle des prestataires dans le développement des mutuelles de santé au Bénin et en Guinée par Samuel Bosongo Itigaino, Centre de Connaissances en Santé en RDC, RDC

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12:40 – 1:40 pm: Lunch break (Atrium)

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1:40 – 2:20 pm: Wrap up & keynote (Arenberg room)

• Wrap-up morning sessions by Erick Mukala, RDC
• The frontiers of health, drawn between risks and their inclusion on the political agenda, in the case of two water pollution issues, one in the North and one in the South by Julie Meunier, CIRAD, France

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2:20 – 3:50 pm: Topic Mental health, title TBC (Arenberg room)

• Integrating perinatal mental health into maternal and child health services in Ethiopia and Guinea: a complex systems analysis of policy and implementation by Anteneh Asefa, Institute of Tropical Medicine (ITM), Belgium
• “…then I wouldn’t be a burden to anyone”: living and coping with Mental Health and its determinants in Essex by Doofan Udendeh, University of Essex, UK
• Practice-based case study on delivering high-quality, specialised mental health care within communities in post-conflict settings, including care for people experiencing trauma, PTSD, and severe depression by Marieke Janssen, CCVS International, Uganda
• Friendship Bench as a community-based, evidence-driven model for expanding access to high-quality mental health care in low-resource settings by Thandiwe Mashunye & Esther Tumbare, Friendship Bench, Zimbabwe

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2:20 – 3:50 pm: Topic SRHR, title TBC (Orange room, English only)

• Healthcare beyond survival: Patient‑centred care, stigma, and power in burns survivorship in India by Pratishta Singh, The George Institute for Global Health, India
• Bridging the Last Mile: How Mama Rescue Transportation Initiative Addresses Delay 2 in Accessing Maternal Health Care in the Rwenzori Region, Uganda by Kensita Sharon, Enabel, Uganda
• Maternal healthcare inequalities experienced and reproduced within formal healthcare systems in southern Nigeria, by Josephine Aikpitanyi, Université catholique de Louvain, Belgium

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3:50 – 4:50 pm: Interactive session: From local action to Global Impact: Holistic community-driven approaches to Non-Communicable  Diseases (Arenberg room TBC)

• Paradigm shift from centralised, top-down health strategies to participatory, community-driven models to enhance adolescent health resilience in rural West Bengal by Ketaki Das, West Bengal Voluntary Health Association, India
• From local action to Global Impact: Holistic community-driven approaches to Non-Communicable Diseases by Karel Gyselinck, Enabel, Belgium
• (Breast) cancer care pathways in Benin from the perspective of users, Nadja De Groote, Enabel, Benin

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4:50 – 5 pm: Closing speech by Mr. Maxime Prévot, Belgian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Affairs and Development Cooperation

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5 – 6 pm: Closing drink