RSU Institute of Public Health launches international project to promote healthy lifestyle in schools

The Rīga Stradiņš University (RSU) Institute of Public Health has begun its participation in the HealthEquity project of the ERA4Health partnership E-Platform for Health Promotion in Schools (ePro-Schools).

The aim of the project is to develop a health promotion intervention in schools in order to encourage physical activity and healthy eating habits in adolescents from disadvantaged social backgrounds. The project will finish at the end of 2026.

On 2 and 3 May 2024, the project kick-off meeting took place in Barcelona and was attended by the project leader in Latvia, Assoc. Prof. Inese Gobiņa, and project experts, Assoc. Prof. Anda Ķīvīte-Urtāne and researcher Elīna Vrobļevska, as well as representatives of partners from Spain, Germany, France, the Netherlands, and Lithuania.

Project participants in Barcelona in May 2024. Photo from the Institute of Public Health 

The aim of the meeting was to develop a detailed plan for implementing the intervention, discuss the roles of the different partners in the project, and agree on the methodology. The discussions highlighted the interdisciplinary approach needed to achieve the project’s objectives and discussed practical solutions to integrate the project into the daily life of schools.

Expert Elīna Vrobļevska. Photo from the Institute of Public Health

Assoc. Prof. Inese Gobiņa states that ‘Current evidence shows that health-promoting interventions implemented in isolation from the social context, only on an individual level, do not have the desired effect. The project will develop the design and contents of an ePro-Schools intervention to be implemented in schools in the Catalonia region at several levels, involving not only students but also their families and teachers. The evaluation of the results achieved by the intervention, according to pre-defined evaluation criteria and indicators, is as important as the overall success of the intervention in practice. However, successful implementation and evaluation require the involvement of all stakeholders according to their interests and decision-making capacities.

The RSU Institute of Public Health is the partner responsible for mapping stakeholders and developing recommendations for the implementation of health promotion programmes in schools, based on the results and experience of the ePro-Schools project in the Catalonia region’.

Read more about the project