IHMT-NOVA was the member institution chosen to receive the first annual meeting of the project «EuCARE: European cohorts of patients and schools to advance the response to epidemics», that aims to better understand several consequences of the pandemic.
Between 15th and 16th September, 58 representatives of the 28 organisations from 13 countries, which constitute the working group of the project, will discuss the results achieved so far. The GHTM’s team’s coordinator is Ana Abecasis, professor at the Global Public Health Unit of the IHMT and member of EuResist Network’s Scientific Board.
For Ana Abecasis, the organization of this meeting at GHTM-IHMT facilities represents “an excellent opportunity to contribute to the objectives of this very important project and to involve even more intensely the GHTM-IHMT team in its efforts. This meeting also occurs at an important point of the project, where we’re starting to enroll Portuguese schools in the school study cohort and we hope the visibility of the meeting can contribute to this end also”
According to Francesca Incardona, the EuCARE Project Coordinator and CEO of EuResist, “the multinational partners joined efforts to present solid, data driven evidence to tackle SARS-CoV-2 variants and the COVID-19 epidemics”. “I’m very happy, this is a fantastic project. Of course, the management is very challenging and it requires all my energy and the energy of the group”, told Francesca Incardona “but it’s a great group, everybody is engaged”.
Questioned about what this project will bring, she mentioned “the project is really focused on the results that are relevant for society, we will deliver white papers and policy briefs useful for decision makers to develop policies based on real world evidence”. The EuCARE project ambition is to “collect information from the patients in the hospital, in several places in Europe and outside Europe covering the 5 continents, and use this real-world information in order to understand what is the best way to treat these patients”.
“Who are the patients more at-risk, to have long-COVID consequences and how to counteract this”, “which vaccines are effective against each variant”, “which diagnostic test are effective and if you go to the pharmacy will they recognize the last variant or not”, are some of the very practical questions to be answered.
Moreover, the project will focus on schools. “The COVID-19 pandemic has been very much impacting schools. The pupils suffered in several dimensions, such as the learning losses from school closures and several psychological impacts adding that “we will study this because the younger suffered so much during this pandemic and it should never happen again”.
In conclusion, Francesca Incardona shared that “this is a fantastic project and an opportunity to really give an important input on the management of epidemics of SARS-Cov-2 and epidemics in general”.
You can read more about it in our previous news articles:
EuCARE epidemics research project with GHTM, launches its webpresence
GHTM participates in the international research project EuCARE
You can follow EuCare’s activities and achievements through its official website:
EuCare
or its social media pages:
EuCare Linkedin
EuCare Facebook
