In a bid to harness cutting-edge AI advancements, Slovenia and Austria, AI research frontrunners, united with two Widening countries, North Macedonia and Serbia, to propose a transformative mission to bridge the knowledge gap, and to propagate Generative AI expertise with the goal to meld AI into pragmatic medical contexts. Together, they are laying a foundation for a cross-border collaboration methodology that through training missions, workshops, seminars, and collaborative deep dive research would enrich minds and redefine medical practices. The collective effort, wisdom, and adaptability as a guiding principle, will dive into the core of the Large Language Models to explore the capability of transforming complex medical knowledge into valuable medical diagnoses and treatment recommendations. Through simulated real-world medical challenges, the team will resonate in the practicality of Generative AI and the specific requirements that such AI-based software would require to be implemented practically in the hospitals. Through this project the partners from the Widening countries will master coordination skills, while the research on Generative AI will alter the medical landscapes.

The rational of the project was shaped at the European parliament meeting “The challenges of health inequalities in the treatment and prevention of birth defects in Europe” in Brussels (9/10/2012) since it was identified that the psychosocial aspects for individuals with disfigurement is less than optimal in many instances across Europe. The validity of idea was further strengthening by the approved COST Action IS1210 – Appearance Matters that acknowledges the psychosocial consequences of having a negative body image or disfigurement is a European priority. The lack of adequate psychosocial training in order to provide suitable provision of care to families that is affected by disfigurement and in many cases the unintentional marginalization and socially exclusion that can occur. In many cases the health care professionals lack the capacity to deliver appropriate psychosocial care in combination with not understanding the specific cultural stigma associated with disfigurement. In Bulgaria, by a request from UNICEF, a survey highlighted that 40% of the parents were advised to abandon their child with cleft in an orphanage where they can expect life-long institutionalization, because of the financial and emotional burden. Of 89% of these, the advice was given by a qualified health professional (ECO, 2011). In Bulgaria, Latvia, Turkey and Serbia, the psychosocial care provision is not adequately developed or in some cases non-existing. This is mostly due to that the health staff or members of relevant NGO’s has no training in regards in how to deliver appropriate psychosocial support. By having a consortium of psychosocial experts (UK), pedagogical experts in vocational training in accordance to the European Qualification Framework (NO) together with hospitals that deliver care for disfigurments (RS, TR) and NGO’s (BG, NL) that works directly with individuals with disfigurement and their families as well as providing training to health professionals. The aim is to generate the training course “Face Value” since it is established that health professionals can be taught to provide psychosocial support when given simple training and access to appropriate resources. Evidence indicates that voluntary organizations can have an equally important part to play in the training of qualified health professionals (Clarke, A. & Cooper, C., 2001). The Serbian and Bulgarian partners work extensively with the Roma population, which would further contribute to the specific societal and cultural understanding for this often socially disadvantaged group. The project addresses EU priorities that have been identified in several publications -European Disability Strategy 2010-2020: A Renewed Commitment to a Barrier-Free Europe, 2010; Early Childhood Education and Care: Providing all our children with the best start for the world of tomorrow, 2011; The European Platform against Poverty and Social Exclusion, 2010. This will be accomplished by to develop a training course in modular form that will be piloted on 80 – 120 health professionals in the following partners countries (BG, LV, RS, TR) in order to ensure the effectiveness and cultural adaptation. The final product will be available for free via the projects website. The impact is the following:- A functional training program for health professionals and members of NGO’s. The material will adhere to the European Quality Framework level 3 and the learners will achieve the following a) a range of cognitive and practical skills required to accomplish tasks and solve problems by selecting and applying basic methods, tools, materials and information b) take responsibility for completion of tasks in work or study c) adapt own behaviour to circumstances in solving problems- Increase the staffs' understanding how individuals with disfigurement and their families can experience discrimination and stigmatization, which can result in social exclusion, especially if they are already are a member of a social disadvantaged group such as the Roma population for example. - Quickly have an impact that enhance the psychosocial service provision for the affected individuals/families with disfiguring conditions - Since the training course is short, it become economical viable to implement it as well as facilitate it to more members of health staff or NGO’s. - Between 120 – 160 health professionals and relevant members of NGOs partake in a National Multiplier event in BG, LV, RS and TR. The project will also raise awareness and contribute to a social dialogue about discrimination and social exclusion for individuals/families with disfiguring conditions. This is especially important since a considerable proportion of the discrimination is conducted by health professional due to inadequate training. By highlighting this kind of training and making it easily transferable could result in that this type of discrimination will become less prominent.

There is a substantial need for the development of high quality work-based VET in the healthcare sector that works with congenital anomalies. In Europe, 1 one out of 40 pregnancies is affected by a congenital anomalies that can result in medical, social and/or psychological disabilities throughout the lifespan for the affected individuals and their families. When it come to children with disabilities there are often negative consequences in their education, which can have a detrimental effect on their future. One of the most common congenital anomalies is orofacial cleft that requires treatment from birth to adulthood. Besides from the obvious medical perspective, studies have reported poorer performance trajectories in educational settings for individuals with orofacial cleft in comparison to their otherwise healthy peers. Currently, the resources in our health care system across Europe are quite varied and the demand on resources is increasing rapidly. This result in that children do not get the access to the necessary care provision, especially in screening for diagnostics or treatment implications that can have a negative impact on their education. The idea of the project was shaped at the European parliament meeting “The challenges of health inequalities in the treatment and prevention of birth defects in Europe: An information workshop for MEPs and NGOs at the European Parliament” in Brussels and further strengthening and supported by the on going networking project COST Action IS1210 funded by the EU Framework Programme Horizon 2020. By having a consortium of psychosocial (UK), public health (SE) and pedagogical experts in vocational training in accordance to the EQF, ECVET and EQAVET frameworks (NO) together with hospitals (BG, LT, RS, SE, TR) and NGO’s that works directly with individuals with congenital anomalies and their families (BG, NL) ensures that a functional training program can be delivered.The aim is to develop a training package for health care professionals that has limited or no access to psychological input about the medical and psychosocial variables that can influence educational achievement. They would also be trained to deliver this information to the parents of the children with orofacial clefts. The parents would be trained to recognise behavioural symptoms and other psychosocial aspects that could negatively influence educational outcomes. This would result in that the parents can feedback to the health professionals in a systematized way.The preparatory work by the consortium validates that this is a project that meets the focus of the European commission (European Commission Communication ‘European Disability Strategy 2010-2020: A Renewed Commitment to a Barrier-Free Europe’, November 2010; European Commission Communication ‘Early Childhood Education and Care: Providing all our children with the best start for the world of tomorrow’, February 2011; European Commission Communication ‘The European Platform against Poverty and Social Exclusion’, December 2010) and that each partners is highly motivated to allocate resources since there is an established need and consequently implementation and sustainability of the project is assured.This will be accomplished by to develop a training course in modular form that will be piloted on 50 – 100 health professionals in the following partners countries (BG, LV, RS, SE, TR) in order to ensure the effectiveness and cultural adaptation. The final product will be available for free via the projects website. The impact is the following:- A functional training program for health professionals and members of NGO’s. - The material will incorporate recommendations from EQF, ECVET and EQAVET frameworks -Through the development of a short training course for health professionals that addresses the medical and treatment aspects that can influence educational outcomes in individuals with orofacial cleft that is also cultural adopted to each participating partner increase significantly the long term effect.- The project would facilitate parental engagement since they will be actively involved in their child’s health care and educational achievements - It will also contributing to reducing the unintentional marginalization and socially exclusion in health care settings by promoting cross cultural care - Quickly have an impact that enhances service provision for the affected individuals/families- Since the training course will be short, it will be economically viable to implement it on a broad scale across Europe.- Between 100 – 200 health professionals and relevant members of NGOs partake in a National Multiplier. Not only the design and methodology of the project ensure long-term effect, all partners are known actors in the field of VET in relation to the training of Health Professional and are well known in health networks and Higher Education. The partners are regarded as a source of reliable information among the target