Tributes For Late Belgian Doctor Bart Jacobs

Phnom Penh: Tributes have been sent after a Belgian man died following a traffic accident in Takhmao.

“Thank you for everything Dr. Bart Jacobs, who sacrificed everything for Cambodia”

Dr. Bart Jacobs was born in February 1967 in Vilvoorde, Belgium. He holds a PhD in Medical Sciences and first worked in Cambodia in April 2000 in Maung Russey District, Battambang Province, as a Public Health Advisor for Bridging Relief Aid for District Health System Development.

In 2001, he moved to Kirivong district, Takeo province, to strengthen the district health management team so that the poor and vulnerable could receive quality health care at minimal cost. His work covered 4 districts until 2007, to strengthen public health service system using the financial contribution between the government and financed by development partners to achieve the following results:
• The rate Women giving birth at health facilities increased from 5% in 1998 to 75% in 2008
• Meanwhile, the percentage of vaccinated children increased from 40% to 92%
• Women of childbearing age using modern contraceptives went from 9% to 36%
• Vulnerable and poor people’s access to public health services increased 20 times from 3% to 61%

From 2007-2013, Dr. Jacobs served in Laos but maintained close ties with Cambodia and provided strategic advice for the Buddhist Organization for Health. He returned to Cambodia in 2013 and corked with the National Institute of Public Health and the General Secretariat of the National Council for Social Protection, headquartered in the Ministry of Economy and Finance, where he provided technical assistance in planning and Universal Health Coverage, which will enable people to access quality health care at minimal cost.

He will be in the hearts of millions of Cambodians, please go to a place of peace. NKD