Guido den Broeder

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Photo: Dutch Casting Agency (2017)

Guido den Broeder (Den Haag, 28 February 1957) is a Dutch advocate and a myalgic encephalomyelitis patient (since 1987). He lives in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.

Career

Den Broeder developed the macro-econometric model AMO-K, which for some 15 years was used to study a number of strategic policy scenarios for The Netherlands.[1][2] From 1990-1995, he was a member of the Economic Committee of the Dutch political party GroenLinks.[3] He was a representative in Rotterdam from 1994 to 2002.

On 1 April 2015, as a protest move, he declared his Rotterdam home as part of a micronation, Paraduin. This was after The Netherlands denied him welfare and the Dutch court refused to hear his case leaving him without means to survive.[4][5]

Den Broeder was an executive producer of the film The Russian Bride, released in 2019. It features a desperate father going to extreme lengths to find a cure for his son, who suffers from a mitochondrial disease.[6]

Advocacy

On May 12, 1987, Den Broeder fell ill with myalgic encephalomyelitis, and never recovered. The diagnosis arrived at his house while he was playing a chess tournament in Hungary in 1990, where he succumbed to exhaustion halfway the event.[7] During the years that followed, he tried but failed to receive disability benefits, despite having been fully insured.[8]

In a letter to GroenLinks chairman Ab Harrewijn, 1996, Den Broeder asked for political attention to the plight of ME patients in the Netherlands.[9] A budget of € 2.72 million (6 million gulden) was eventually set aside by Dutch parliament for biomedical research into ME. However, after the Gezondheidsraad produced an advice on Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) in 2005, the money was spent on studies into cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and graded exercise therapy (GET) for CFS patients.

In 2004 Den Broeder was one of the leaders of a patient revolt against the board of the government-subsidized ME/CVS-Stichting Nederland, which denied ME and CFS patients influence on the foundation's positions and activities. To give patients a voice and counter the foundation's propaganda of CBT/GET, he co-founded the ME en CVS Vereniging in 2005, later renamed to ME/CVS Vereniging. As a chairmain (two periods) and guideline representative, he educated patients and doctors about the difference between ME and CFS. He furthermore criticised the publications of the Dutch Health Council and the decisions of the Dutch minister of health.[citation needed]

When in 2011 the International Consensus Criteria for ME were published and CFS got classified away from ME in the ICD10-CM (published in 2015), the decision was made to disband the ME/CVS Vereniging. Den Broeder founded the ME Vereniging Nederland, the national patient organization for ME in the Netherlands. He has served as chairman until this day. Also in 2011, he founded and became president of the Stichting ME Research, a foundation whose purpose is to conduct, promote and interpret research into myalgic encephalomyelitis. He initiated several ongoing projects, including Wetenschap voor Patiënten (Science for Patients). Den Broeder's YouTube channel DossierME shows presentations and interviews from that project.

Den Broeder is a basic income advocate,[10] and served as a board member of the Vereniging Basisinkomen for 13 years. On several occasions he has suggested that ME patients would profit from the introduction of a basic income, leaving behind the 'unfavorable lottery' that the current system for disability benefits has to offer. Findings by the Stichting ME Research indicate that half of the ME patients in The Netherlands have no or insufficient income.

Together with Wendy Boutilier and John Gabor, Den Broeder founded the international group Global Advocates for Myalgic Encephalomyelitis in 2016. GAME supports the application of the International Consensus Criteria for ME.

Education

  • 1981 Drs in econometrics, Erasmus University Rotterdam

Interviews & Talks

Publications

Myalgic encephalomyelitis

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

  • 2006 "Advies inzake het ZonMW-Onderzoeksprogramma Chronisch Vermoeidheids Syndroom", ME/CVS Vereniging,
  • 2006 "E. van de Putte, 'Exploring Chronic Fatigue Syndrome in Adolescents' (proefschrift)", book review, Lees ME 1, December, p42-45
  • 2007 "Gezondheidsraad, 'Verzekeringsgeneeskundig protocol Chronische-vermoeidheidssyndroom'", book review, LeesME 2, May, p44-45
  • 2007 "Advies aan ZonMw inzake de tweede ronde van het Onderzoeksprogramma CVS", May
  • 2007 "NICE Guideline", review, Lees ME 3, October, p32-35
  • 2009 "Chronischevermoeidheidssyndroom: een psychoneuro-immunologisch perspectief", comments, Tijdschrift voor Psychiatrie, October, p786-787
  • 2010 "Het chronisch vermoeidheidssyndroom. De beoordeling door verzekeringsartsen", included comments, Inspectie Werk en Inkomen, Ministerie van Sociale Zaken en Werkgelegenheid, November
  • 2012 "Commentaar op het concept van de CBO-richtlijn CVS", ME Vereniging Nederland, 12 April

Patient advocacy

Online presence

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1985 J.A.M. Heijke, J. de Koning, R.J.M. Maas, G. den Broeder, "A model of the Dutch Labour Market (AMO-K)", De Economist, 133-4
  2. ↑ 1988 G. den Broeder, "Alternatieve heffingsgrondslagen voor de sociale zekerheid. Micro-, meso- en macro-economische effecten", Nederlands Economisch Instituut / Magnana Mu Publishing & Research
  3. ↑ 1993 G. den Broeder, "GroenLinks 1995-1998, Financiële vertaling van het ontwerp-verkiezingsprogramma", Economische Commissie GroenLinks, 2 August
  4. ↑ 2014 "Rotterdam weigert bijstand aan voorzitter ME Vereniging", news item, ME Vereniging Nederland, 13 July
  5. ↑ 2015 "Weg uit Nederland", news item, Paraduin, 1 July
  6. ↑ 2018 The Russian Bride comes to Porto, news item, Paraduin, 18 December
  7. ↑ 2009 "The chess games of Guido den Broeder", comment, Chessgames.com, 19 April
  8. ↑ De Volkskrant (2003), "WAO geen verzekering tegen ziekte", 23 May
  9. ↑ 1996 G. den Broeder, letter to Ab Harrewijn, 14 February
  10. ↑ 1991 G. den Broeder, A. de Roo, "Basisinkomen - omdat het kan", GroenLinks
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