Emeritus Professor in Global Child Health at the Uva and the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine
Emeritus Professor in GCH at the UvA and the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. His main areas of interest include maternal and child health, focussing on pregnancy infections as they affect birth weight, pre-term birth and child health outcomes in developing countries. In particular, malaria and micro-nutrients and their influence on pregnancy outcomes, the growth and development of young children and nutrition-infection interactions. His initial work formed the basis for the development of the World Health Organisation strategy for treatment and prevention of malaria in pregnancy. He has supervised over 40 PhD students in the Netherlands and United Kingdom and conducted projects in Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Tanzania, Zambia, Papua New Guinea, and Burkina Faso. BB has been a member of International Advisory Committees and Working Groups on nutrition and infection. Most recently he acted as Principal Investigator of the NIH (USA) supported PALUFER trial of iron supplementation in non-pregnant adolescents. Apart from continuing his research work he enjoys writing on historical aspects of tropical medicine, ballroom dancing and philately.
