Personal profile

Personal information

Wendy Janssens is Professor in Development Economics. She is the director of the HERA institute (Health Economics Research Amsterdam), academic board member of the Amsterdam Institute for Global Health and Development (AIGHD), and research fellow at the Tinbergen Institute. She is also research advisor for PharmAccess Foundation. Currently, she is leading amongst others an interdisciplinary research programme on mobile technology and universal health coverage for mothers and children in Kenya, including the evaluation of maternal mental health interventions. 

She has received numerous research grants, including a BRAC grant to study digital finance, women's empowerment and mental well-being in Kenya; a DFID-ESRC grant to study social norms and child marriage in Pakistan; an NWO-Wotro grant to study family planning, HIV/AIDS and empowerment in Mozambique; and an NWO-VENI grant to study the interaction between health insurance and microfinance in Sub-Saharan Africa.

She has extensive experience in designing and coordinating multi-disciplinary research programmes to provide rigorous and locally grounded policy advice to national and international organisations as well as governments (such as Oxfam Novib, Pathfinder International, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the World Bank).

Research

Impact evaluations and behavioral, experimental and micro-econometric analyses of (i) access to health care and health insurance, (ii) global mental health, (iii) sexual and reproductive health (iv) gender, intra-household decision-making, polygamy, and violence against women and girls.

Teaching

  • BSc: Coordination of the VU Minor in Economics
  • BSc: Health Economics (Minor Health Care and Health Management)
  • BSc: Fundamentals of Microeconomics (Amsterdam University College)
  • MSc: Microeconomics for Development
  • MSc: Thesis supervision (MSc Economics and MSc Public Policy)
  • MPhil: Development Economics (Tinbergen Institute)


Ancillary activities

No ancillary activities

Ancillary activities are updated daily

Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals

In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):

  • SDG 1 - No Poverty
  • SDG 3 - Good Health and Well-being
  • SDG 5 - Gender Equality

Academic qualification

Development Economics, PhD, Social Capital and Cooperation: An Impact Evaluation of a Women’s Empowerment Programme in Rural India, Vrije Universiteit - Tinbergen Institute

Award Date: 23 May 2007

Business Economics, Master, MA in Business Economics, Maastricht University

Award Date: 30 Jun 1998

Culture, Psychology and Psychiatry, Participant in the anthropology graduate school winter course, Amsterdam Institute for Social Science Research

Medical Anthropology on Sexual and Reproductive Health / HIV , Participant in the AISSR graduate school winter course , Amsterdam Institute for Social Sciences Research

User created Keywords

  • Global health economics
  • Mental health
  • Gender
  • Fertility
  • HIV/Aids
  • Sub-Sarahan Africa
  • Intra-household bargaining
  • Health insurance
  • Polygamy
  • Child marriage
  • Early Childhood Development
  • SRHR
  • Domestic violence
  • Poverty reduction