PrePOD

PERSONALIZED PREVENTION TOOLS IN OBESITY AND DIABETES – A JOINT ROMANIAN-UKRAINIAN PROGRAMME OF HEALTH EDUCATION

On June 16, 2020, the Department of Biochemistry and Biotechnology of Vasyl Stefanyk Precarpathian National University (PNU) launched a cross-border project ” Personalized prevention tools in obesity and diabetes – a joint Romanian-Ukrainian programme of health education (PrePOD)“. Grant 2SOFT / 4.1 / 56, co-financed by the Joint Operational Programme Romania-Ukraine 2014- 2020, and funded by the European Union through the European Neighborhood Instrument (90%), as well as the participating partner universities (10%).

The project implementation period is 18 months.The coordinators are Professor Volodymyr Lushchak, Head of the Department of Biochemistry and Biotechnology, PNU (Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine) and Mihai Covasa, Head of the Department of Health and Human Development at Ştefan cel Mare University (Suceava, Romania). The project team from the Ukrainian side includes both specialists from Precarpathian National University and Ivano-Frankivsk National Medical University.

The main objective of the project is to increase public and medical staff awareness of risk factors linked to overweight, obesity and diabetes through on-site screening, nutrition counseling and education and personalized health feedback.

The project aims to help reduce the spread of obesity and diabetes in Ukraine and Romania.

OBJECTIVES

To screen individuals (adult and children) to determine their risks for over weight, obesity or diabetes and provide integrative customized tools for disease prevention.
To assess current medical practices of family physicians and train primary health care providers in adopting preventative approaches and effective nutrition counseling to obese and diabetic patients
To intensify cooperation between Romanian and Ukrainian health specialists with the aims of:

1) obtaining a scientific under standing of the current situation regarding rates of obesity and type 2 diabetes in our regions;

2) identifying common evidence-based solutions to decrease rates of diseases; and

3) raising the level of exposure of faculty, technical staff and students to scientific knowledge by involving the minex change visits, trainings and research-related project activities.

TARGET GROUPS
I. Direct target groups:
1) Local community
This is represented by the adult and school-age Romanian and Ukrainian urban and rural populations from the core regions of Suceava county and Ivano-Frankivsk oblast that are suffering of, or are at risk of developing obesity and/or diabetes.
2) Family health providers
The second aim of the project is to engage local health providers in providing nutrition counselling and education in primary care setting in a Romanian/Ukrainian population.

II. Indirect target groups:
Faculty, researchers, technical personnel, students and other staff involved in this project from both countries.

The „Ștefan cel Mare” University from Suceava, Romania:

Project manager – Mihai Covașă

Research associate – Roxana Toderean

Research assistant – Camelia Oana Iațcu

Financial manager – Luiza Pîțu

Administrative assistant – Loredana Pătrașcu

The Precarpathian National University “Vasyl Stefanyk” from Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine:

Project manager – Volodymyr Lushchak

Activity manager – Halyna Semchyshyn

Research associate – Tamara Vatseba

Research assistant – Oleksandra Abrat