The post-acute phase (PAP) of COVID-19, occurring ≥4 months after the acute phase, is associated with an increased risk for the development of non-communicable diseases (NCDs). The risk of complications in this phase does not depend on the severity of the acute phase. In the EU, more than 183 million cases of COVID-19 have been reported and up to 70% of patients suffer reduced organ function in the PAP. Our conservative estimate it that 5% of people who have suffered COVID-19 are at risk of developing NCDs of the pulmonary, cardiovascular and renal systems due to the PAP. To avoid the significant socioeconomic costs related to this burden, POINT will develop knowledge-based biomarkers for prevention and management of NCDs, a virtual twin model that offers clinical decision support, and clinical guidelines and recommendations for the entire health care value chain with special attention to vulnerable groups. We will fulfil an unmet need for knowledge and tools to minimize the risk factors of the PAP at the optimal point in time, when healthcare systems will have to redirect their focus from the acute phase of COVID-19 to the post-acute phase. The outcomes of POINT will aid the health care value chain already from an early phase of the project. Furthermore, POINT will correlate and promote knowledge on the development of NCDs in general and the risks of PAP from other infectious diseases. POINT will meet the challenges with a holistic approach from a truly interdisciplinary consortium consisting of clinical experts, molecular biologists, behavioural scientists, and computer scientists, who will take advantage of cohorts of more than 6 million Europeans, and cross-sectional biobanks from more than 6000 Europeans. Researchers will work together with standardisation experts, an end-user organization representing >120.000 physicians, as well as a dedicated partner for data management ensuring rapid absorption of the outcomes of the project by all stakeholders.

Social Prescribing (SP) is an innovative solution to bridging the gap between primary health care and non-clinical supports and services within the community. SP enables general practitioners who identify health-related social problems to refer patients to a so-called link worker. The link worker provides personalized support and helps these patients to access community resources by addressing any barriers that may exist. SP is an approach to integrate health and social care and strengthen community orientation. SP thereby mitigates the effects of social determinants of health on health outcomes. However, SP has not been tailored to the needs of people in vulnerable situations yet and the effectiveness of SP to improve their access to health and care services remains unknown. The overall objective of SP-EU is to assess the potential of SP to promote and improve access to health and care services for people in vulnerable situations, focusing on three primary target groups: LGBTIQ persons, refugees and first-generation immigrants and older adults living alone. SP-EU follows a mixed-methods approach: SP adaptations will be co-created with the target groups, to adapt them to their specific needs and social contexts. A pragmatic randomized controlled trial will assess the effectiveness of the adapted SP to improve access by randomizing 1,776 patients in eight EU countries to receive SP or care as usual. A qualitative analysis in five European countries will explore enabling and limiting factors to the implementation of SP from different stakeholders’ perspectives. Additionally, we will communicate and disseminate results and translate them into policy action. SP-EU will enable health care systems to implement SP as a scalable, safe, cost-effective and people-centred solution to provide equal access to sustainable care. Thus, SP-EU will enable the transformation of European health care systems to equitable, community-based, people-centred and integrated health care.

EARLY project aims to reduce the burden of non-communicable diseases such as mental health conditions (MHC), especially depression, anxiety, stress disorders, substance use disorders and identify and reduce risky modifiable exposures for these conditions in youth. EARLY will pursue this goal through developing a comprehensive exposure matrix which can be adapted to emerging new risks, to understand youth, parents`, and stakeholders perceptions, we will conduct qualitative, interviews, by providing representative, multinational data on youth MHC and through developing, implementing and evaluating a multicomponent intervention. This will serve as an innovative model for promoting mental health and preventing MHC. EARLY is a mixed methods study which combines qualitative and quantitative methods. To provide a overview on youth mental health measures we will review measures, to provide data on exposure factors and whether exposure estimates vary by country, age, and gender, we will review studies and identify and merge available data on youth mental health; to provide insights on perceptions we will conduct focus groups with end-users. To provide representative data on youth MHC we will conduct a cross-sectional survey which are the baseline data for the multicomponent pilot intervention in five selected countries. To provide data on effectiveness and sustainability of interventions to reduce MHC we will conduct a multicomponent intervention. The results will be a a) model of youth mental health, b) a matrix of exposures, c) insights and understandings on end-users perceptions of youth mental health, d) knowledge on services for use in the European region and identification of needs; e) representative data on youth mental health which can be easily accessed by researchers and policymakers; f) data on effectiveness and sustainability of interventions to reduce both exposures and MHC in youth and finally g) non-communicable diseases risk reduction in adolescence and youth.