EMPOWER Youth - Evidence-based Medication and Prevention: Optimizing Wellbeing through Education and Real-world data for Youth

Project Overview

EMPOWER Youth addresses the urgent need for evidence-based behavioural interventions to prevent Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) among European youth. Through the health literacy education program and an innovative digital platform integrating wearables, AI, and gamification, youth learn to self-monitor activity, sleep, nutrition, medication use, and mental wellbeing. Targeted workshops led by healthcare professionals teach participants to interpret their own health data, recognize early risk factors, and make informed decisions for NCD prevention. By engaging youth during this critical developmental period, EMPOWER Youth fosters sustainable behavioural change and establishes lifelong healthy habits that extend well into adulthood, ultimately decreasing long-term healthcare costs across Europe.

The intervention integrates six prevention pillars: medication literacy, cardiovascular health, diabetes prevention, respiratory health, mental wellbeing, and lifestyle optimization. Led by a multidisciplinary consortium combining medication literacy expertise, behavioural science expertise and digital health innovation, the project aims to implement evidence-based interventions in schools with longitudinal follow-up to monitor sustained behavioural changes and health outcomes, ensuring long-term impact assessment and intervention replicability.

EMPOWER Youth delivers scalable and sustainable interventions resulting in behavioural change—preventing NCDs before they start and reducing long-term healthcare costs.

We are seeking multidisciplinary partnership to co-develop behavioral interventions for NCD prevention among European youth:

• Digital health technology partners for mobile app development

• Behavioural science experts for intervention design and evaluation

Our Expertise

Slovak research team currently developing medication literacy education program (www.pharmlit.sk) for primary and secondary schools based on national data. We bring:

• Educational content and methodology tested in Slovak schools

• Expertise in pharmacy, public health, and pedagogy and psychology

• Experience engaging youth through workshops

What We Need

Technology partner with experience in:

• Mobile health app development (iOS/Android, GDPR-compliant)

• Wearable device integration (Fitbit, Xiaomi, Apple Watch, etc.)

• Gamification for youth engagement (challenges, badges, leaderboards)

• Interoperable health data systems (HL7 FHIR standards)

• Real-World Data (RWD) analytics and AI-driven personalization

Behavioural science researchers with expertise in:

• Behavioral intervention design and habit formation theories

• Youth health psychology and motivation strategies (ages 12-25)

• Rigorous evaluation methods (RCT, longitudinal studies)

• Implementation science and sustained behavior change

Collaboration Model

• Joint development: You build the tech, we provide content + user research, and the behavioural scientist designs evidence-based nudges and habit-formation strategies.

• Multi-country implementation: Pilot in Slovakia, scale across EU with culturally adapted interventions.

• Sustainable impact: App designed for long-term use beyond project lifetime, with built-in self-reinforcement mechanisms informed by behavioural science.