Joos Van Den Noortgate is a Graduate in Automobile Techniques and an Industrial Engineer in Electro-Mechanics. He also has a Specialisation in Water Management for (Sub-) Tropical Countries and a Diploma of Specialised Studies in Environmental Science.
He has been working for MSF since 1991 as Logistician, Technical & Logistical Coordinator, and Water, Hygiene & Sanitation Officer in several countries: DRC, Kenya, Somalia, Croatia, Bosnia, Guinea, Rwanda and Sierra Leone. In 1999, he joined the Water, Hygiene & Sanitation (WatSan) Unit of MSF’s Operational Centre in Brussels, where he was Mobile Technical Advisor for the missions in Western Africa, Afghanistan and South-East Asia.
Since 2001, he has been Responsible for Training, Research & Development, which has changed to Responsible for Innovation & Training since 2016, all still within the WatSan Unit of MSF-O.C. Brussels. Besides the MSF trainings, he is guest lecturer at different International Universities and Institutions, the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine and the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Antwerp. He is the (co-)author of several MSF manuals and guidelines (e.g. Public Health Engineering in Precarious Situations) and peer reviewer of different external manuals. He also develops methodologies, emergency kits (e.g. water treatment unit) and specific equipment (e.g. for medical waste management) to be used in precarious situations.