DigiCare4You Newsletter - First edition
DigiCare4You - A Horizon 2020 Project
Creating a scalable and transferable solution for the prevention and management of Type 2 Diabetes and Hypertension
Welcome to DigiCare4You!
Type 2 diabetes (T2D) and hypertension (HTN) represent an enormous burden in Europe for individuals and the society at large. It is also a burden forecast to increase over coming years, reflecting the threatening increase in the prevalence of childhood and adolescents’ diabetes as well as the ageing of the population and many other modifiable and non-modifiable risk factors.
Prevention strategies have, to date, failed to stem the tide of diabetes and HTN, with key barriers for the implementation and sustainability of such strategies including the absence of strong political commitment, the insufficient and ineffective financial, human and technical resource utilisations, as well as the lack of multiple stakeholder involvement and patient representation in plan development and implementation.
It is clear that a full overhaul of heath/social care is needed to address these barriers, consider individuals, families and communities’ needs and preferences, and integrate strategies that can effectively utilise family, community, and service system resources for intervention implementation and health-behaviour practice support.
This is why I am delighted to introduce the DigiCare4You project, which aims to improve the early prevention and management of T2D and HTN by firstly, building on an existing procedure for children’s periodic growth assessment to systematically identify people already living with, or at risk, of diabetes and HTN and secondly, developing a person-centred, community-supported solution, underpinned by digital tools, to prevent the development of these conditions and/or improve their management.
This first newsletter provides an overview of the project and its progress to date, which hopefully will help pave the way for an improvement in the quality of life and health outcomes of people living with, or at risk of developing diabetes and HTN. I hope you find it of interest.
– Prof. Yannis Manios, Project Coordinator
What is DigiCare4You?
DigiCare4You is a Horizon2020 project which aims to improve the early prevention and management of T2D and HTN via a community-based, person-centred solution, integrating both social and healthcare systems, supported by the use of digital tools.
Why DigiCare4You?
T2D and HTN represent a major burden on individuals and society. Currently 537 m people worldwide live with diabetes (61m in Europe).
Without urgent action, this number is forecast to rise to 643 m by 2030 (67m in Europe) and so will the cost burden on society. Additionally, 1.23 billion people live with hypertension.
HTN is approximately twice as prevalent in people living with diabetes compared to the general population. A staggering 75% of diabetes costs relate to often-preventable complications. Early screening and a focus on preventative measures is key to tackling these conditions.
What is DigiCare4You's goal?
The goal of this intervention is not only to improve the health status of the users, but also to empower the entire family in adopting a healthy lifestyle.
To this end, schools and communities will also be actively engaged to promote health literacy, well-being and support lifestyle changes creating a more supportive social and physical environment for the entire community.
How is the project conducted?
An implementation study is being conducted, targeting more than 10,000 families in two middle-income countries (Albania and Bulgaria) and two high-income countries (Greece and Spain).
The children's periodic growth assessment is combined with the identification of parents/ caregivers at high risk for T2D, by screening parents/ caregivers via a non-invasive self-reported digital screening tool. Those identified at high risk for T2D/HTN are being referred for glycaemia testing and blood pressure (BP) measurements at local community health centres.
Parents/caregivers confirmed to have pre-diabetes or diabetes (and possibly high BP) are invited to join a mHealth self-management intervention coordinated by the community healthcare workforce.
How is the project structured?
DigiCare4You is organised around nine Work Packages and is deployed in three phases:
Literature review on mHealth and community-based interventions for the prevention and management of Type 2 Diabetes Hypertension
Read more here
Situation analysis of the contextual factors related to primary healthcare and community healthcare services in each country involved in the analysis
Read more here
Introduction to the DigiCare4You mHealth tools for the two-stage screening procedure
Read more here
mHealth applications now available for the DigiCare4You project
Read more here
Development of the DigiCare4You social collaboration platform for the community-based intervention
Read more here
Results of an online survey on implementers and users' insight
Read more here
DigiCare4You Consortium Meetings in Athens and Zaragoza
Visit the resources page on our website to find more information on:
What is the current status and what are the next steps?
In all countries, procedures have now been established to support recruitment, assess the implementation strategy and ensure statistical power to examine study outcomes. Digital tools have also been developed, which allow for the digitalisation of the screening process, the management of diets/lifestyle changes and the monitoring by healthcare professionals of their patients.
In Greece, 10 health centres and 74 healthcare professionals are now participating in the study. In Albania, 20 schools and four healthcare centres have been enrolled in the study, with 68 healthcare professionals contributing to the implementation. In Bulgaria, 32 schools and 13 GP practices have joined the study, with a total of 51 healthcare professionals supporting the work. In Spain, 15 healthcare centres and 15 schools in Zaragoza are also participating in the study.
Collaboration platforms, tailored to the needs of each implementation country, will shortly be launched. These will support local, healthy communities and facilitate connections. Amongst others, they will allow for developing/sharing community-based events and initiatives as well as exchanging information relating to T2D and HTN. Schools will also be supported through a teacher’s guide and training sessions, with a view to creating more supportive social and physical environments.
Looking forward to the replicability and transferability of the solution, consortium partners are now busy developing tools and a prediction model to calculate the screening and intervention costs; as well as identifying scale-up indicators and adaptation strategies. These will be based on studying the mechanisms that contribute to the scalability and transferability of the solution and will support future implementation.
The study implementation is now in full-flow and early results will be reviewed during the project’s next consortium meeting, which will take place in Tirana, Albania, end of November 2023.
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Digital Communications Officer at International Foundation for Integrated Care (IFIC)
2yGreat news that DigiCare4You - A Horizon 2020 Project has launched the first edition of the newsletter!