Talking about cardiovascular disease and cancer prevention to young people through clear and effective language. This was the challenge that the CURIoSA project set out to overcome, and from the results, it has done so successfully. CURIoSA recently won the EU Health Award 2021 awarded by the European Commission for health promotion and cancer prevention initiatives (see the promotional video published on vimeo via DG Health and Safety).
CURIoSA (whose acronym stands for “Communicate to to grow in Health) is a project funded by the Autonomous Region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, promoted by ICGEB under the leadership of Prof. Serena Zacchigna and in collaboration with the University of Trieste.
The project involved hundreds of students in 18 school meetings, 9 episodes of “Science & the City Young” lectures open to the public, and popular material distributed and to be distributed to schools and the general population to address scientific topics in a clear and immediate communicative context. CURIoSA brought together experts, young people and the public to dialogue, resolve doubts and interact on health-related issues; an approach that is more important than ever as the pandemic has shown.
Within the project, diversified communication strategies were developed according to the audience as a means to prevent cardiovascular disease and cancer and promote a healthy lifestyle. In particular, discussion games were developed aimed primarily, but not only, at younger parts of the population through which boys and girls were able to inform themselves about current health-related issues. The effectiveness of the developed communication strategies was evaluated through surveys and quizzes.
