The proposed Prevention and Screening Innovation Project towards Elimination of Cervical Cancer (PRESCRIP-TEC) will lead to effective and innovative cervical cancer screening, including direct treatment and follow-up for women in resource-poor or hard-to-reach settings in the world, by improving availability, accessibility, acceptability and quality of services. PRESCRIP-TEC will conduct implementation research into cervical cancer screening and secondary prevention in different settings in four countries over three continents: Bangladesh and India in Asia, Uganda in Africa, and Slovakia in Eastern Europe. We will analyse patient- and health services-related facilitators and barriers for uptake of cervical cancer screening in low- and middle-income countries and in vulnerable groups in Eastern Europe. By taking existing screening protocols in the four countries, we will introduce 1) interactive information with communities via mobile devices and social media; 2) client-friendly, community-based strategies, with self-test for high risk HPV infection; and 3) artificial intelligence in gynaecological examination. The use of artificial intelligence built into mobile devices offers a future for high quality diagnostics in resource-poor settings. By doing so, we will reduce the number of physical examinations and implement screenings by lower-level trained cadres. In addition, through a cost-effectiveness analysis and a business case for the global introduction of hrHPV testing as routine screening for cervical cancer, we will show the advantage of point-of-delivery testing and the benefits of self-testing for cancer in the post-COVID era, which reduces pressure on the health system. PRESCRIP-TEC will strengthen evidence of innovative strategies for cervical cancer screening as advocated by the World Health Organization and will contribute to eradication of cervical cancer worldwide through prevention and early diagnosis, alleviating the global burden of cancer.

Mental illnesses represent a huge burden for society, the economy, and the aMental illnesses represent a huge burden for society, the economy, and the affected individuals. To significantly increase citizens? mental health, today?s symptom-based diagnoses need to be complemented by biological criteria accounting for individual and sex differences. Furthermore, early detection and prevention measures need to be improved. RE-MEND addresses the current gaps and challenges with an interdisciplinary approach by: i) focussing on four critical life stages in which an individual?s susceptibility to mental illness is strongly influenced by changes in endocrine signalling, including sex hormones, namely early life, puberty, peripartum, and transition into old age; ii) integrating data from large population-based longitudinal cohort studies allowing for discovery of risk and protective factors as well as biological patterns that influence mental states in the general population across these life stages; iii) complementing epidemiological with experimental studies to establish correlative and causative links leading to mechanistic understanding; iv) using advanced biostatistics as well as machine learning and artificial intelligence for data integration and biomarker and drug target discovery; v) combining the biological approaches with communication science studies to efficiently translate its results to societal impact. Ultemately, RE-MEND will result in: i) Significantly increased mental health literacy among stakeholders and citizens; ii) Validated biomarkers for assessing mental health state and its predisposition as well as more accurate diagnoses and personalised preventive and therapeutic measures; iii) Recommendations for early detection, better prevention, and drug design strategies to protect vulnerable individuals from mental illness in sensitive life stages; and iv) strategies on how these advances can be used to decrease stigma and increase prevention behaviour.

Although vaccination is an effective way to reduce the huge disease burden associated with diarrhoea caused by enteric pathogens, many attempts to develop vaccines for shigellosis and ETEC infections have failed and a number of current approaches are too complex and costly to provide an adequate solution for LMICs. This Consortium is dedicated to advancing a radically new approach against Shigella and ETEC based not on the immunodominant, but highly variable Shigella LPS O-antigen, target of almost all past and current vaccine development efforts. There are four pillars on which the ShigETEC vaccine has been designed: (i) Elimination of the LPS O-antigen to allow recognition of multiple antigens on the cell surface that are shared among different serotypes of Shigella and are increasingly being recognized as important in protection from shigellosis. These antigens are also closely related to those of ETEC and may also help in protecting against that pathogen as well. (ii) Elimination of the invasiveness of Shigella by disruption of the invasion complex resulting in a much safer/less reactogenic oral vaccine that can take advantage of gut mucosal immunity, possibly allowing administration of high vaccine doses and therefore addresses the low immunogenicity seen with other live attenuated vaccine candidates. (iii) Addition of detoxified toxin antigens of ETEC that will induce neutralizing/blocking antibodies to these critical virulence factors. (iv) Rational molecular design of ShigETEC will allow future generations of vaccines to include additional antigens for other pathogens. The work programme entails manufacture of clinical trial material, first-in-human testing for safety and immunogenicity in non-endemic adults, a sero-epidemiology study to learn about natural immune response to the vaccine, and importantly testing the vaccine in endemic populations. The Consortium comprises partners from EU and Bangladesh that bring along highly complementary expertise.

PUREMIND will deliver the first Integrated Mental Healthcare Ecosystem (IMHE) to predict/early identify Mental Health Disorders (MHD) and create more optimal personalised interventions to prevent MHD and thereby improving wellbeing in children, adolescents, and young adults (0–25 years). The ecosystem will mitigate key challenges associated with MHDs, specifically 1)Detection: 1 in 7 undetected and untreated MHD cases, 2)Efficiency of treatment: lack of tools and guidelines for personalised multidisciplinary interventions that work, 3)Access to Support and Care: long waiting times for care due to lack of trained personnel, 4)Inequality: disparate and inadequate inter- and intra-country mental healthcare services and 5)Modern Cultures and Lifestyle: the increasingly recognised risk factor of digital addiction resulting in sedentary, socially isolated lifestyle contributing to MHD. These will be addressed by PUREMIND’s approach of combining analytical modelling of dynamical systems in the cyber-physical context of a subject’s personal natural environment-gene-gut-brain-MHD interactions process creating a much-needed personalised intervention synthesis framework that will be exploited by an AI engine to deliver optimised personalised intervention, and a unique digital twin educating young people how MHD might develop depending on their environment and lifestyle. These 2 components will be combined in an accessible/ adaptable mobile app MyMind to measure at scale and allow a subject to seamlessly access a 4-tier service architecture involving family, community, clinical and emergency services, to support prediction/early detection of MHD, empowering them to monitor their own mental health at home/educational/community settings and taking preventive actions against MHD. The IMHE will be designed using Implementation Science approach and will be validated in a 12month pilot study in 7 European countries and 2 LMICs covering different socioeconomic and cultural scenarios.