International Youth Day 2025: EU4Health and Horizon Europe projects supporting youth health and wellbeing

International Youth Day is observed annually on 12 August, to celebrate the role of young people in society and give visibility to youth issues. On this day, HaDEA sheds light on a selection of EU4Health and Horizon projects that are supporting the health of children and young people, specifically in the areas of mental health and obesity.  

Mental health 

EU4Health 

• IceHearts is a collaborative initiative aimed at supporting vulnerable children and young people across Europe by integrating mental health and social inclusion into grassroots sports programmes.  

  By October 2024, IceHearts had recruited 90 mentors and engaged around 1000 young participants. The programme combines physical activity with social work, addressing both mental and physical health needs, and aims to prevent school dropouts, reduce social isolation and build resilience among participants. 

• Let’s Talk about Children (LTC) has the objective of preventing intergenerational transmission of mental health issues by identifying strengths, resources and everyday solutions for children, parents, teachers and families.  

  Project actions are aiming to promote positive parenting and family life in families in vulnerable situations, such as parents in mental health services or in reception centres for refugees and asylum seekers. 

  LTC has translated 80 logbooks in seven languages addressed to practitioners and parents as well as different age groups. In addition, the project has created trainer manuals for partner organisations. Up until now, a total of 1700 practitioners have been trained in the 8 EU countries involved, and over 5000 families have been reached. 

• MENTALITY is dedicated to the transfer of mental health-focused best practices aimed at children, healthcare and care workers, people with pre-existing mental health problems and psychosocial disabilities, migrants and service providers.    

  The project has been promoting mental health through innovative practices for these segments of the population, for them to build resilience within the health and social care services. These practices include a guide for educators to support children’s mental health, specifically targeting anxiety, depressive symptoms or social isolation, as well as workshops designed to help newly arrived migrants tap into their own potential to adapt to a new environment and labour market. 

  Through its holistic methodology, the project has adopted a community-based approach to break major barriers to mental health support: stigma and discrimination. 

  Discover more in our testimonial video. 

Horizon Europe 

• The HIGH Horizons project examines how rising heat from climate change affects the health of pregnant and postpartum women, newborns, young children, and maternity care health workers. As part of an expert group convened by the WHO, this Horizon Europe project aims to develop population-level heat-health indicators.  

  Furthermore, HIGH Horizons is testing a prototype of a personalised heat-health early warning mobile app. The project is also refining a tool to reduce the carbon footprint and heat of health facilities, enhancing overall wellbeing. 

• The MELCAYA project is tackling the under-researched issue of melanoma in children, adolescents, and young adults (CAYA). With current diagnostic approaches lacking accuracy and tailored clinical guidelines nearly non-existent for this age group, MELCAYA aims to revolutionise the understanding and management of melanoma in CAYA.  
   
  By integrating extensive European cohorts and registries, the project will explore genetic and environmental risk factors using advanced omic technologies* to develop a novel classification of CAYA melanoma. It will also harness the power of artificial intelligence to create reliable imaging tools and a pan-European second-opinion platform for more precise, early diagnosis.  

  Finally, MELCAYA will translate its findings into actionable public health strategies while engaging patients and the wider community. All data and results will be openly shared via UNCAN.eu, ensuring lasting impact and collaboration across the scientific and medical fields. 

• SMILE – Supporting Mental Health in Young People: Integrated Methodology for cLinical dEcisions and evidence-based interventions – is an initiative dedicated to transforming how anxiety disorders are diagnosed, managed and treated in a rapidly changing world.  

  The SMILE project aims to enhance the quality, accessibility and personalisation of mental health care. At the heart of the project are two key innovations: an Open Knowledge Platform (OKP) that connects healthcare professionals, scientists, policymakers, businesses and citizens to co-design effective strategies, and interactive gamification tools that empower young people with skills for self-assessment, learning and emotional resilience.  

  By integrating and analysing diverse diagnostic data and case studies across seven EU countries, SMILE will support clinicians and patients through advanced decision-making tools and predictive analytics. These tools will offer personalised recommendations based on the associations between risk factors and anxiety.  

^{*Tools used to study the comprehensive set of molecules within a biological system, such as a cell, tissue or organism.} 

Obesity 

EU4Health 

• PODiaCar is developing a predictive model and screening tool to assess the risk of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular diseases in children with obesity. The project’s data will feed into a predictive digital twin which will be capable of tracking risk reduction for the aforementioned diseases.
• DUSE is developing and promoting new educational protocols for children and adolescents to increase the level of awareness on the maintenance of good lifestyles to counteract the onset of diabetes. The approach also includes the development of a mobile app with a gamified virtual world to further motivate healthy habits and physical activity.
• RYHEALTH is focusing on physical activity, balanced diets and good mental health at primary and secondary school level. The project reaches children of different socio-economic backgrounds and is designed to also involve teachers and parents, thus having an intergenerational impact.
• Schools4Health is working together with schools across the EU to select, transfer, implement and evaluate best practices in the areas of healthy food, physical activity and mental health. All training materials, including a concise tool for policymakers and practitioners, will be included in an online hub ‘Schools for Health and Wellbeing’.
• Health4EUKids is a Joint Action implementing best practices and research results on healthy lifestyles in hard-to-reach low-income communities in the EU. The project is identifying concrete challenges in the prevention of non-communicable diseases and policy solutions for collective action among EU countries.
• PREVENTIA is improving health literacy of younger generations through training on healthy eating habits and childhood obesity. The training, networking and awareness-raising programme aims to reduce health inequalities across the EU, prevent non-communicable diseases and foster cooperation between EU countries.
• HaDEA has also signed a contract for an EU4Health study to evaluate the progress in the key areas in the Action Plan on Childhood Obesity. The study will provide an overview of the efforts carried out by the EU countries during the period 2014 – 2020. 

Horizon Europe 

• Bio-Streams provides a multi-pillar framework to address obesity in the underage population and aims to deliver the first EU childhood and adolescence obesity Biobank, acting as an EU-wide data-sharing centre for research and innovation on the matter. Moreover, it aims to provide an accessible obesity platform (Bio-Streams platform), combining the Biobank with novel services, as well as an EU community network on childhood and adolescence. 

  Bio-Streams is also establishing an EU-wide Knowledge Chain Model (KCM) on obesity for children and adolescents, which will lead to novel study deployments for validation and new data collection for the Biobank.  

Background 

EU4Health is the fourth and largest of the EU health programmes. The EU4Health programme goes beyond an ambitious response to the COVID-19 crisis to address the resilience of European healthcare systems. The programme provides funding to national authorities, health organisations and other bodies through grants and public procurement, contributing to a healthier Europe. HaDEA manages the vast majority of the total EU4Health budget and implements the programme by managing calls for proposals and calls for tenders.     

Horizon Europe is the research and innovation programme of the EU for the period 2021-2027. 

The aims of Cluster 1 ‘Health’  include improving and protecting the health and well-being of citizens of all ages by generating new knowledge, developing innovative solutions and integrating where relevant a gender perspective to prevent, diagnose, monitor, treat and cure diseases. Horizon 2020 (H2020) was the EU’s multiannual funding programme between 2014 and 2020.