European Health Forum Award finalists

”Medication Safety Belt”:
Almost half of all patients do not take prescribed medicines correctly or cease treatment early due to a lack of knowledge or insecurity regarding the correct usage. The “Medication Safety Belt” project stores information on patients and provides doctors and pharmacists with relevant information on a patient's medications. The core elements of the project are a central medication database and patient management software. The project succeeded in reducing double medications by 40 percent and the percentage of chronically ill patients that did not take their medication by a quarter.
Countries: Germany, Austria

European Alliance Against Depression:
Around twelve percent of Europeans suffer from major depression at least once in their life; a large proportion of the 58,000 annual suicides in the EU are a result of depression. Using a four-tier approach (intervening with primary care physicians; initiating a media campaign; special training for key groups such as teachers, clergy, police, pharmacists etc.; initiating self-help groups and emergency cards for those with suicidal tendencies) resulted in significant reductions in suicide rates in the target regions.
Countries: Austria, Belgium, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, United Kingdom


Prediction and lifestyle prevention of type 2 diabetes FINDRISC project:
The “Finnish Diabetes Risk Score” (FINDRISC) is one of the most promising attempts in the fight against what is probably the “most expensive” widespread diseases in the EU: type 2 diabetes. FINDRISC was employed successfully in the DE-PLAN subproject to determine the risk of type 2 diabetes. A second subproject, IMAGE, included drawing up guidelines for the prevention of type 2 diabetes. For the first time, scientific evidence has demonstrated that the risk of type 2 diabetes can be reduce by more than 50 percent.
Countries: Germany, Austria, Bulgaria, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Serbia, Spain, Netherlands, United Kingdom


Cross Border Healthcare in the Euregio Meuse-Rhine (EMR):
A significant portion of the EU population lives in border regions – no wonder with 27 member states. Until now, citizens had only limited access to healthcare institutions and services on the other side of the border, even if these are easier to access. A pilot project in the densely populated Euregio Meuse-Rhine involving Belgian, German and Dutch insurances and hospitals has played a major role in improving patients' access to doctors across national borders, reducing waiting lists by using free capacity abroad and guaranteeing an integrated cross-border care chain. The project is a reference project for numerous other border regions in the EU.
Countries: Belgium, Germany. Netherlands


Quality Assurance in Breast Cancer Screening and Diagnosis:
With 330,000 cases per year, breast cancer is the most common type of cancer amongst women in Europe. Screenings facilitating early diagnosis are available almost everywhere and are generally popular, however the success of the screening methods varies. Setting out a series of European guidelines for quality assurance in breast cancer screening and diagnosis allows international experience to be exchanged, and 19 countries hare already implemented similar national programmes. Furthermore, a series of effective best practice recommendations have been drawn up based on an analysis of the results.
Countries: Belgium, Czech Republic, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Ireland, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom

Smokefree Class Competition:
Whether adolescents smoke has a decisive impact on whether they will smoke in adulthood or not. The Europe-wide school competition“Smoke-free class“ primarily employs methods of social learning to create a situation where smoking is no longer perceived as “normal“. It has since been proven that significantly less teenagers became smokers in classes participating in the competition. The project has therefore been included in many national anti-smoking campaigns.
Countries: Belgium, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland, United Kingdom