A press conference on the interim results of the cross-border project “Personalized Approaches to Prevention of Obesity and Diabetes (PrePOD)” has been held 9/06/2021 at the Project-Educational Center “AGENTS OF CHANGE” of the Precarpathian National University. Project participants of the Precarpathian University, representatives of the PNU administration, members of the local government, and the media have participated in this event. Also, everyone had an opportunity to join the press conference online.
“Our biochemists of both universities are developing screening methods, consulting family doctors what to pay attention to in order to prevent these diseases of the XXI century. Therefore, all methods will be used so that this pilot project could be improved and disseminated both in Ukraine and in Romania,” said PNU Rector Ihor Tsependa at the beginning of the press conference.
This is an international, Ukrainian-Romanian project in the field of contemporary biomedicine – “Personalized approaches to prevent obesity and diabetes – a joint Romanian-Ukrainian program to obtain and disseminate health knowledge (PrePOD)”, funded by the European Union and co-financed by the Precarpathian University. A total of more than 300,000 euros has been allocated for its implementation. The main issue is how to influence the development of obesity and diabetes in a non-drug way in order to reduce the risks of developing these diseases,” said Volodymyr Lushchak, PNU professor and project manager from the Ukrainian side.
According to the scientist, the problem of obesity, overweight and diabetes is one of the main problems of human health and is relevant today around the world. As part of its implementation, Volodymyr Lushchak said, there is a tendency to increase the incidence of such pathologies in children.
“Our Romanian colleagues and we agreed on the fact that there had been almost no such cases among children before. And now it’s a problem. What causes this problem? Firstly, that’s food, in particular, fast food. Excess sugars, carbohydrates, fats lead to such problems in the human body. Secondly, the fundamentally important issue is a sedentary lifestyle. Many children don’t move much, especially due to constant sitting at the computer, working with gadgets, and using mostly sedentary games. If we look at the health issue more broadly, it should be noted that overweight, obesity, and diabetes are the problems that lead to accelerated aging of the human body,” – project manager Volodymyr Lushchak shared the results of the research.
During the press conference project researchers Oleksandra Abrat, Associate Professor of Biochemistry and Biotechnology, Faculty of Natural Sciences PNU, and Ivan Tverdokhlib, IFNMU intern, demonstrated the use of modern devices to determine morpho-functional parameters of the body and their use to calculate the risk of developing diabetes mellitus.
During the press conference, the project participants noted that in September this year it is planned to identify adults and children with pre-diabetes and/or undiagnosed diabetes/overweight/obesity in the localities of Ivano-Frankivsk region (Burshtyn, Piylo, Tysmenychany and Stetseva) by screening with the help of the mobile clinic “Health on the Wheels”.
“The project has already purchased a vehicle, equipment, and devices that will allow to conduct medical check-ups of the residents (adults and children) of the territorial communities of the region. Also, the project specialists have already trained staff and students to measure the health status of people and collect information during the screening of target groups” said the project manager Volodymyr Lushchak.
The professor noted that the teams of Ukrainian and Romanian scientists work in a complementary way. This cooperation will provide an understanding of the current situation regarding obesity and type 2 diabetes in the Ukraine-Romania cross-border region in the future. It will help project scientists make informed decisions concerning the reduction of the disease incidence in these localities and also to provide advice to doctors and the general public.
It should be noted that the grant 2SOFT / 4.1 /56 is implemented under the Joint Operational Program Romania-Ukraine 2014-2020 “Support of the development of medical services and access to health”. It is funded by the European Union. The beneficiaries of the project are Stefan cel Mare University (Suceava, Romania) and Vasyl Stefanyk Precarpathian National University (Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine). The main goal of this project is to raise public awareness of the risk factors associated with overweight, obesity, and diabetes, also screening of adults and children, their personalized counseling. The term of its implementation is 22 months. The budget is EUR 329,200 (90% is the contribution of the Romania-Ukraine Joint Operational Program 2014-2020 and 10% is the contribution of both beneficiaries).
The text of the press release states that during the project both parties performed a number of activities, in particular:
- established local contacts with primary care workers, school headmasters, and administrations of territorial communities (for Ukraine – Burshtyn town, villages Pijlo, Tysmenychany, and Stetseva) to further screen their population for overweight, obesity, and diabetes;
- developed a project website (http://www.prepod.org.ua/), that contains bilingual information and materials for the population, clinicians, and scientists involved in the project. The web page content is updated on a regular basis;
- developed and produced educational information materials for the population and clinicians;
- purchased a vehicle (car) and all the necessary equipment with supplies that allow performing the screening campaigns, measuring health outcomes, and processing the data collected from the screened general population (adults and children) in selected target local communities;
- trained staff and students (83 people from Ukraine and 68 people Roamania) in measuring health indicators and collecting information during a screening of target groups; they have been instructed on how to perform data collection and interpretation, entry, analysis and graphing using current software, compile an integrated report and present the results;
- examined the attitudes about, and perceived barriers of nutrition counseling/education of 62 health providers;
- provided nutrition counseling and nutrition education training (a two one-day seminars for health providers was held at the “Reikartz Park Hotel Ivano-Frankivsk” in Ukraine with the participation of Romanian partners and renowned Ukrainian scientists and practitioners working in the fields of clinical biochemistry, endocrinology, and nutrition). Generally, 106 health providers have been trained.
Links to regional news after the press event can be found here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdu2hRlSrOk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cM_wQ9uT58Y
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RWxBx9Tjb2c
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3122VaNmiz8&t=28s
