Project RIVER-EU

RIVER-EU (Reducing Inequalities in Vaccine uptake in the European Region – Engaging Underserved communities with Insufficient Access to Services) is a five-year project funded by the Horizon 2020 research program coordinated by the University Medical Center Groningen, in which 14 renowned institutions from ten countries participate, including a team from LF UPJŠ. The goal of the project is to improve access to vaccination services for children and adolescents in selected underserved communities, namely to reduce the inequality of measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) and human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination. The project collects evidence on health system determinants influencing high and low vaccination coverage in eight specific contexts, which we will use to identify and/or develop interventions aimed at reducing barriers to vaccination in communities at risk of insufficient access to services.   

The project designs, implements and evaluates interventions to improve access to vaccination using a co-creative and collaborative approach. The lessons learned will be concentrated in a set of evidence-based guidelines and recommendations for implementation and will be disseminated among health policy makers and experts across Europe to improve the performance of vaccination programs and reduce inequities in vaccination.  

In 2023, on the basis of the activities to date in the project, a tailor-made proposal for an intervention to increase vaccination against HPV in marginalized Roma communities was created.