RIVER-EU

RIVER-EU (“Reducing Inequalities in Vaccine uptake in the European Region – Engaging Underserved communities”), is a 5-year (2021-2026) Horizon2020 project coordinated by the University Medical Center Groningen (UMCG). Along with EuroHealthNet – which will serve as the Communication and Dissemination Work Package lead – three EuroHealthNet members/observers are represented in the consortium: THL (Finland), PHE (England) and PROLEPSIS (Greece).

The project will work to improve access to two specific vaccines, MMR and HPV, among specific underserved communities in: Greece (refugees and migrants), the Netherlands (adolescents of Turkish and Moroccan origins), Poland (Ukrainian economic migrants) and Slovakia (Roma populations) by identifying and removing health system barriers. The project will collect evidence on health system determinants of low vaccine uptake (barriers) in the five aforementioned communities, as well as on high vaccine uptake (enablers) in three underserved communities in: the UK (the Bangladeshi community), Israel (the Arab Israeli community) and Finland (the Somali community). The gathered evidence will provide an increased understanding of determinants of low and high vaccine uptake in specific contexts. On the basis of this evidence, RIVER-EU will identify and/or develop promising system-level interventions tailored to underserved communities in order to reduce barriers to vaccine uptake. These interventions will be piloted in Greece, the Netherlands, Poland and Slovakia and the results will be converted into evidence-based guidelines to address equitable access to vaccination across Europe.

Find out more about the project here.