Equal-Life

Project Title: EQUAL-LIFE – Studying the Exposome for a Healthier Future for All Children

Official Website of the Project: https://www.equal-life.eu/en

Project Description

The Equal-Life project aims at developing and testing data on combined exposure of children and assessing the impact of this exposure on the child’s mental health and cognitive development. In doing so, new approaches will be used to assess multimodal exposure. The combination of data from existing cohort studies with new data sources will provide insight into physical and social aspects of exposure that have not been addressed so far. This will be done at different levels and within different timeframes, considering the distribution of exposure across social groups based on gender, ethnic and social vulnerability.

The project operates in ten work packages:

• The first set is on the changed mechanism of recognising the connection between the exposium and the early signs of mental health.
• The second part is dedicated to the internal exposure, i.e. the detection of biomarkers of exposure/disease or changes in behaviour and cognitive abilities.
• The third part is the study of the external expos, i.e. the environment and its effects on the health of children and adolescents.
• The fourth section deals with social escrow, i.e. the economic and social environment that has an impact on health.
• The fifth strand is dedicated to multimodal data collection and enrichment. This refers to data obtained from social networks, public debates, debate websites and the like.
• The sixth set consists of analysis and modelled data.
• The seventh set also covers data analysis and modelling, but in this case, it is an integrated exposure using data from different cohort studies.
• The eighth strand involves stakeholder involvement and the development of mitigation measures or recommendations for interventions and policies. The establishment of a stakeholder network and an effective science-policy dialogue is envisaged.
• The ninth strand will develop awareness-raising tools, education and materials. Existing and new materials will be translated and published on the project website.
• The tenth strand covers project management, ethical issues and dissemination.

The National Institute of Public Health (NIJZ) actively participates in work packages 1, 4, 8, 9 and 10. The contents of these clusters include: mechanisms to identify the link between expos and early indicators of mental health, social exposure, stakeholder involvement and development of measures, development of tools, implementation of training and introduction of novelties. Work Package (WP) 10 includes project management, ethical aspects and dissemination of information. We will assess the role of potential mediators (stress, sleep, problem management), in relation to social and environmental risks, protective factors, mental health, cognitive development, depending on the development phase of the child. To the greatest extent, the NIJZ will be included in WP 4 which covers policy equity analysis and impacts on parents and children from different population groups. Health impact assessments of different sectors of relevance will be carried out.

EQUAL-Life is a five-year project worth EUR 194.421.96.25. It is based on a consortium of 22 partners with multidisciplinary knowledge and experience from 11 countries.

Added Value

It is important for the National Institute of Public Health (NIJZ) that employees from the Centre for Health Ecology and the Centre for the Study and Development of Health are involved in this project. At the level of Slovenia, however, cooperation is important due to the possibility of contact at international level. Expert consultation, exchange of views and the possibility to influence the development of new guidelines and policies at national level is important.

Expected Results and Materials

The NIJZ participated in the organisation of the annual meeting, which was held in Ljubljana. The meeting was of a hybrid nature. At the same time, we organised a meeting of stakeholders.

We participated in a co-creation meeting of stakeholders in Skopje and at the Stakeholder Forum in Milan. All tasks are carried out in conjunction with Work Packages 8 and 9. We attended a meeting of the Ehen Project Exposome Network in Barcelona. At the INTERNOISE Congress in Glasgow, we participated in the organisation and management of the section, where we highlighted environmental noise and impacts on children’s health. We participated in the creation of a website (toolkit/toolbox) where information and tools will be available to help researchers in research and spatial planners to intervene in the environment and to prepare new spatial policies for a supportive environment for children and young people.

In 2021/22, we devoted most of our time to the of Social Exposome task, where we assessed the policy of environmental noise and spatial planning in Slovenia, especially through the prism of social inequalities caused or prevented by these policies.

We produced the report titled Deliverable D 4.5 Equity Impact Assessment of Policies and prepared a contribution for the ICBEN 2023 Congress, which took place in Belgrade in June 2023.

The expected outcome of the project is tools and guidance that will help researchers, decision-makers and other stakeholders to ensure the planning of a supportive environment for all children and young people in individual settings and stages of their development.

Project Duration: 1 January 2020–31 December 2024 (with a possible extension of 6 months, until June 2025)

Supporting Organisation: National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), The Netherlands

Project Partners:

• National Institute of Public Health (NIJZ), Slovenia
• University of Gothenburg, Sweden
• University of Eastern Finland
• University of Leicester, United Kingdom
• University of Bremen, Germany
• Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands
• Karolinska Institute, Sweden
• Stichting International Network on Children’s Health, Environment and Safety, The Netherlands
• Barcelona Institute for Global Health, Spain
• Technical University of Kaiserslautern, Germany
• Ghent University, Belgium
• University of Helsinki, Finland
• Eindhoven University of Technology, Germany
• Zeus Gmbh, Centre for Applied Psychology, Environmental and Social Research, Germany
• Institute of Public Health at the Republic of Macedonia Skopje, North Macedonia
• Graz University of Technology, Austria
• RWTC Aachen University, Germany
• The City of Utrecht, The Netherlands
• Quantia Consulting, Italy
• Avans University of Applied Sciences, The Netherlands
• The Pere Virgili Institute for Health Research, Spain

Funding: This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under Contract No [874724].