Why health starts in your neighbourhood: Eugenie and Mariëlle in conversation
How healthy you are doesn’t just depend on good healthcare. Where you live, whether you can afford healthy food or medication, and how much stress you experience also play a part. In this video, Eugenie Mac-nack, experienced in (child) poverty, and Mariëlle Jambroes, a doctor specialising in public health at UMC Utrecht, discuss the health inequalities they encounter in Utrecht and how involvement with the community can really make a difference.
In a neighbourhood like Overvecht, it’s often about surviving rather than living.
Eugenie Mac-nack
Eugenie Mac-nack knows from personal experience what it is like to live in poverty. As a single woman with five children, she struggled to make ends meet and had to rely on the food bank. She is now working as an advisor to the Public Health department at UMC Utrecht, where she helps medical students better understand the circumstances of residents in Overvecht, the neighbourhood she comes from.
Mariëlle Jambroes
Dr. Mariëlle Jambroes is a physician and Head of the Public Health Department at UMC Utrecht. As a physician, Jambroes is committed to research and innovation to improve public health, working from both public and private organisations. Jambroes and her team at the UMC are developing new teaching methods for junior doctors in training. Furthermore, she conducts research into community-based healthcare innovation. Here, she examines the role of the physician and the connection between public health and the social domain.
Curious to know more about health disparities? Read how residents, researchers, and healthcare professionals are working together to promote equal opportunities for health.
About Changemakers
Changemakers is a video series produced by Utrecht University and UMC Utrecht to celebrate their joint 390th anniversary. In each video, a researcher and a practitioner engage in a dialogue about a topic they are both working on from different perspectives. Throughout the conversation, they discover how their insights complement one another and how, together, they can make a real difference.
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