March 2026 - zhealth-consort

Z-HEALTH consortium meeting today
by Sassi, Franco 30 Mar '26

30 Mar '26

Dear All, I just wanted to remind you about our last consortium meeting today, from 2pm to 5pm CET. You should have received a calendar invite with a Teams link. If not, please, do let me know. Please, feel free to forward the link for the meeting to anyone in your organisations who you feel should participate, if they are not already included in the consortium group address. Today's agenda is as follows: 1. Brief presentation on the state of development of the proposal. 2. Work package and task leadership: review and final confirmation. 3. Review of proposal template and allocation of remaining contributions. 4. Implementing countries: intervention design requirements. 5. Project budget: inputs needed from partners. 6. AOB I look forward to seeing as many of you as possible this afternoon. Franco Franco Sassi PhD Chair in International Health Policy and Economics Director, Centre for Health Economics and Policy Innovation (CHEPI) Imperial Business School London SW7 2AZ United Kingdom Email: f.sassi(a)imperial.ac.uk<mailto:f.sassi@imperial.ac.uk> Tel: +44(0)207 594 9157

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Fw: New publication - Equity across the regulation, implementation and evaluation of digital health
by Dorota Sienkiewicz 25 Mar '26

25 Mar '26

CAUTION: This message came from outside Imperial. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognise the sender and were expecting this email. Speaking of weaving in more health equity by design into the project proposal: I am sharing this recent WHO/Europe publication, which feels particularly relevant for our thinking on equitable use of digital tools — and for strengthening the Z-Health proposal, especially around co-design, access, inclusion, trust and equity-by-design for younger age groups. * Best fit: intervention design/development WP — a useful reference for co-design, user-centred development and equity-conscious usability testing of digital tools for young people. * Especially relevant: implementation/piloting WP — it is a strong reminder to be mindful of access, connectivity, digital literacy, trust, accessibility and the need for blended rather than digital-only approaches. * Strong fit: evaluation/impact WP — it supports building in disaggregated monitoring from the outset, so that we assess not only overall uptake and outcomes, but also who is being reached and who may be left behind. * Important also for any data/AI/ethics-governance WP or task — particularly where digital tools involve personalisation, data-driven targeting or algorithmic elements, given the emphasis on bias, transparency, representative data and safeguards. * Secondary but still useful for scaling/transferability and stakeholder engagement, communication WPs — especially in thinking through how digital approaches can be adapted across settings without reproducing inequalities, and how trust and participation are built around them. Best Dorota From: NOVILLO ORTIZ, David <dnovillo(a)who.int> Sent: Tuesday, March 17, 2026 12:45 PM Cc: AZZOPARDI MUSCAT, Natasha <muscatn(a)who.int>; HAMILTON, Clayton <hamiltonc(a)who.int>; Alisha Davies (Public Health Wales - No. 2 Capital Quarter) <alisha.davies(a)wales.nhs.uk>; Diana Bright (Public Health Wales - No. 2 Capital Quarter) <Diana.Bright(a)wales.nhs.uk> Subject: New publication - Equity across the regulation, implementation and evaluation of digital health Dear WHO Colleague, I hope this email finds you well. On behalf of the Division of Health Systems at the WHO Regional Office for Europe and our WHO Collaborating Center in Public Health Wales, we are pleased to share with you this publication on “Equity across the regulation, implementation and evaluation of digital health: a scoping review”. This publication examines how equity is considered in digital health regulation, implementation and evaluation within the WHO European Region. Equity is increasingly acknowledged in digital health, but its integration into practice remains inconsistent. Regulatory frameworks primarily emphasize safety, privacy and performance, with limited focus on inclusion of underserved populations or adaptability to low-resource settings. Implementation strategies often overlook structural barriers. Standardized equity metrics and robust bias auditing for artificial intelligence-driven technologies are lacking. The review highlighted the need for an equity-by-design approach to embed equity throughout the digital health life cycle. Advancing equity requires inclusive governance, participatory design and cross-sectoral collaboration. Recommendations include establishing a shared understanding of equitable digital health, integrating equity metrics into maturity models, and reinforcing regulation, governance and sustainable financing. More information: * Digital health equity gaps remain, but solutions are becoming clearer, new report shows. Available at: https://www.who.int/europe/news/item/17-03-2026-digital-health-equity-gaps-… * Equity across the regulation, implementation and evaluation of digital health: a scoping review. Copenhagen: WHO Regional Office for Europe; 2026. Available at: https://www.who.int/europe/publications/i/item/WHO-EURO-2026-13153-52927-82… We hope this information is of interest to you, and please do not hesitate to contact us in case you want to know more about this publication. In addition, please feel free to share this within your networks. WHO/Europe extends its gratitude to the European Commission (DG SANTE) for supporting the publication of this new publication. Thank you in advance. Best regards, Natasha Azzopardi-Muscat, Clayton Hamilton & David __ Dr David Novillo Ortiz, MLIS, MSc, PhD, FIAHSI Unit Head and Regional Adviser, Data, Artificial Intelligence and Digital Health Division of Health Systems World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe UN City Marmorvej 51 2100 Copenhagen Denmark Tel: +45 45 33 7198 (Land line) Tel. +45 61 61 4868 (Mobile line) E-mail: dnovillo(a)who.int<mailto:dnovillo@who.int>

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Z-HEALTH, Intervention packages and responsibilities
by Sassi, Franco 19 Mar '26

19 Mar '26

Dear All, Thank you to all those who have been able to participate in the two consortium meetings last week. Both have been extremely helpful in getting to the next step of development of the proposal. Based on the inputs received last week, I have developed two "intervention packages". You may find descriptions of those packages attached to this message, and in the shared Box folder (sub-folder "Interventions"). In order to help you follow the logic of those intervention packages, please, note the following points: 1. Based on comments received (no age group should be left out within the range provided by the call), I have collapsed the three originally envisaged transitions into two. The first will cover the age range from 12 to 18 and will be labelled transition from early to late adolescence. Intervention package 1 is designed to help this transition by preventing the formation of unhealthy habits, creating and consolidating healthy habits. Intervention package 2 will do the same in the later age group (19-25) supporting the transition to tertiary education/work/independent living. 2. Different domains in each intervention package reflect the structure I proposed on Friday, with several adaptations and specifications. 3. I am circulating these intervention descriptions as proposals (albeit an advanced one, that I would not expect to change to any large extent at this stage). The design of intervention package 1 is ultimately the responsibility of WP4 (led by NIPH) and its partners, and the design of intervention package 2 is the responsibility of WP5 (leadership yet to be assigned - any volunteers or proposals for additional partners who could do it, please, do come forward). 4. The attached intervention descriptions are key tools to be used when approaching country partners whom we expect to implement interventions. WHAT WILL WE THE ASK NEW PARTNERS IN POTENTIALLY IMPLEMENTING COUNTRIES? * What I see as the "ideal" approach here (and I would like to emphasise this is the ideal, but reality may require compromise) is that we include 6 countries implementing interventions in Z-HEALTH, three focusing on the age group 12-18, and three on the age group 19-25. The attached document describing Intervention package 1 currently lists Norway, Slovenia, and possibly Spain (Basque country - TBC) as the three implementing countries. We still need to determine what implementing countries will work on the later age group. * It is not expected that a single organisation (e.g. the Public Health Institute) takes care of implementing the entire package. They can work with other partners (locally or from other countries) on components they need support with. We could even envisage that implementing countries may be given the option of dropping one domain from the intervention package, if they really feel it would be difficult to implement in their countries, but this would not be ideal, because the different domains are meant to address different stages of the habit formation process, as set out in the project's conceptual framework. * The value of implementing and evaluation a whole package of interventions is that this will enable us to assess synergies between components and across NCD areas. There would be easier options, potentially, involving countries picking and choosing from a menu of singe-domain/single-transition intervention options, but I think this would be inferior to the plan I have described before, and would reduce the value of the project. Apologies that this message is getting long, but I would like to address the issue of responsibilities for individual dimensions in the final part of this email, because we need those responsible to start shaping up the relevant tasks. The dimensions of each intervention package are listed below, along with the individual actions they involve. I have added the names of those I would expect to take responsibility for each of them. Please, look for your names in the list below and assess whether you agree with the proposed allocation and whether you are prepared to work on designing the relevant actions over the coming week (so that we can review those in the next Consortium meeting on 30th March). Intervention package 1 Domain 1. Health and digital literacy. 1. TUTCH health literacy programme. [The CHOICE Foundation (Sweden) are interested in joining the proposal and can work with the European Medical Students' Association [suggested by Katja, we can follow up with a direct contact and include them too] 2. Digital literacy programme. [Marisa Miraldo (Imperial) on mis-information management; volunteers sought in support (Daniel, University of Cologne ? Damon, NYU? Others?)] Domain 2. Self-management of digital media use. [I would see the design of all three components here to be led by NYU, but others are welcome to support if interested] Domain 3. Healthy school environments and nudges. [WHO and EuroHealthNet can oversee this domain, specific contributions may be envisaged from Marisa and Daniel, especially on (a) and (b); others?] Domain 4. Resources and services. [Matey's team NIJZ, supported by other countries implementing this intervention] Intervention package 2 Domain 1. Health and digital literacy. 1. Health literacy programme. [Possibly Ane, Irati, Biosistemak] 2. Advanced digital literacy programme. [Marisa, NYU team?] Domain 2. Device-assisted behavioural monitoring and feedback. [we need volunteers here] 1. Physical activity 2. Sleep [this could be covered by Matej's team, but also potentially by NIPH?] 3. Eating patterns and diet [This would have to be Imperial] 4. Probably not suitable Domain 3. Healthy environments and nudges. 1. Food and physical activity environments [Marisa may work on this, but I realise her name is down too many times in this list] 2. Addictive product environments [maybe Daniel, again?] 3. Mental health environment, possibly resurrecting the idea of using the ABC framework. [would EuroHealthNet be interested in covering this?] I look forward to hearing from you. Franco

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Z-health proposal: notes from Consortium meeting 2(a) 10 March 2026
by Lodge, Heather A 12 Mar '26

12 Mar '26

Hello All Please find the notes from the Consortium meeting on 10 March 2026 here: https://imperialcollegelondon.box.com/s/wiwnic1ppwum7n9ane48dffpwo32erv0 Please let me know of any inaccuracies or omissions or if you have any difficulty opening files. You will find a copy of the template to record suggested interventions at this link: https://imperialcollegelondon.box.com/s/ixiwklhkpdc9r4v68y3aoppumoy3am83 Actions noted: ALL: * Register on the project portal and complete institutional details. * Report any Box access issues to the ZHealth management team. * Identify local partners required to implement interventions. * Finalise intervention packages and discuss proposal timetable at the 13 March meeting Management team: * Circulate the proposal template again Daniel: * Circulate further information on behavioural coaching interventions. Dorota: * Circulate information on the ABC – Act Belong Commit framework. Marie: * Provide the PIC number for the NYU School of Medicine. * Confirm legal and technical feasibility of the proposed digital interventions with Damon McCoy Katja & Marisa: * Refine the intervention framework to better illustrate interactions between domains. Loredana: * Finalise the AMR budget documentation. Marisa: * Develop the equity considerations within the intervention framework. Monika: * Share implementation notes with the ZHealth management team. With best wishes Heather ------------ Heather Lodge Project Coordinator Centre for Health Economics & Policy Innovation Imperial Business School South Kensington Campus, London SW7 2AZ, UK T:  +44 (0)20 7594 5758. E: h.lodge(a)imperial.ac.uk<mailto:h.lodge@imperial.ac.uk> W: Centre for Health Economics & Policy Innovation| Imperial College Business School<https://www.imperial.ac.uk/business-school/faculty-research/research-centre…> Sign up to our mailing list: CHEPI Mailing List<https://confirmsubscription.com/h/r/DF1193DE8D10A0D32540EF23F30FEDED> Please note: I use: Work Sans Medium font for accessibility

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Z-Health consortium meeting 3
by Sheehy, Lorraine 12 Mar '26

12 Mar '26

Dear all Sending to the zhealth mailing list to capture all. Kind regards Lorraine ________________________________________________________________________________ Microsoft Teams meeting Join: https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/36611403258014?p=HPrhDQq3Y45lRxVtdo Meeting ID: 366 114 032 580 14 Passcode: Sn7RN3RZ ________________________________ Need help?<https://aka.ms/JoinTeamsMeeting?omkt=en-US> | System reference<https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_OWEwNzcyOTctMGYxYy00…> Dial in by phone +44 20 7660 8164,,394867819#<tel:+442076608164,,394867819> United Kingdom, City of London Find a local number<https://dialin.teams.microsoft.com/f9f35326-5b0f-4124-8774-bbda5b88462e?id=…> Phone conference ID: 394 867 819# For organizers: Meeting options<https://teams.microsoft.com/meetingOptions/?organizerId=063f3c04-378a-412c-…> | Reset dial-in PIN<https://dialin.teams.microsoft.com/usp/pstnconferencing> [Company Logo] Privacy and security<https://www.imperial.ac.uk/media/imperial-college/administration-and-suppor…> ________________________________________________________________________________

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Z-Health consortium meeting 3
by Sheehy, Lorraine 12 Mar '26

12 Mar '26

Dear all Sending to the zhealth mailing list to capture all. Kind regards Lorraine ________________________________________________________________________________ Microsoft Teams meeting Join: https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/36611403258014?p=HPrhDQq3Y45lRxVtdo Meeting ID: 366 114 032 580 14 Passcode: Sn7RN3RZ ________________________________ Need help?<https://aka.ms/JoinTeamsMeeting?omkt=en-US> | System reference<https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_OWEwNzcyOTctMGYxYy00…> Dial in by phone +44 20 7660 8164,,394867819#<tel:+442076608164,,394867819> United Kingdom, City of London Find a local number<https://dialin.teams.microsoft.com/f9f35326-5b0f-4124-8774-bbda5b88462e?id=…> Phone conference ID: 394 867 819# For organizers: Meeting options<https://teams.microsoft.com/meetingOptions/?organizerId=063f3c04-378a-412c-…> | Reset dial-in PIN<https://dialin.teams.microsoft.com/usp/pstnconferencing> [Company Logo] Privacy and security<https://www.imperial.ac.uk/media/imperial-college/administration-and-suppor…> ________________________________________________________________________________

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Z-Health consortium meeting 2
by Sheehy, Lorraine 12 Mar '26

12 Mar '26

Dear all Replacing the individual names on this invite with the zhealth mailing list to ensure we have captured all. Kind regards Lorraine Microsoft Teams meeting Join: https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/36188235479424?p=jjz6T7e1gE5FKBspjt Meeting ID: 361 882 354 794 24 Passcode: uo3yM3Sm ________________________________ Need help?<https://aka.ms/JoinTeamsMeeting?omkt=en-US> | System reference<https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_NDJkMjRlYjYtOTQxOS00…> Dial in by phone +44 20 7660 8164,,959502422#<tel:+442076608164,,959502422> United Kingdom, City of London Find a local number<https://dialin.teams.microsoft.com/f9f35326-5b0f-4124-8774-bbda5b88462e?id=…> Phone conference ID: 959 502 422# For organizers: Meeting options<https://teams.microsoft.com/meetingOptions/?organizerId=063f3c04-378a-412c-…> | Reset dial-in PIN<https://dialin.teams.microsoft.com/usp/pstnconferencing> [Company Logo] Privacy and security<https://www.imperial.ac.uk/media/imperial-college/administration-and-suppor…> ________________________________________________________________________________

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Z-Health consortium meeting 2
by Sheehy, Lorraine 12 Mar '26

12 Mar '26

Dear all Replacing the individual names on this invite with the zhealth mailing list to ensure we have captured all. Kind regards Lorraine Microsoft Teams meeting Join: https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/36188235479424?p=jjz6T7e1gE5FKBspjt Meeting ID: 361 882 354 794 24 Passcode: uo3yM3Sm ________________________________ Need help?<https://aka.ms/JoinTeamsMeeting?omkt=en-US> | System reference<https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_NDJkMjRlYjYtOTQxOS00…> Dial in by phone +44 20 7660 8164,,959502422#<tel:+442076608164,,959502422> United Kingdom, City of London Find a local number<https://dialin.teams.microsoft.com/f9f35326-5b0f-4124-8774-bbda5b88462e?id=…> Phone conference ID: 959 502 422# For organizers: Meeting options<https://teams.microsoft.com/meetingOptions/?organizerId=063f3c04-378a-412c-…> | Reset dial-in PIN<https://dialin.teams.microsoft.com/usp/pstnconferencing> [Company Logo] Privacy and security<https://www.imperial.ac.uk/media/imperial-college/administration-and-suppor…> ________________________________________________________________________________

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Z-HEALTH Today's consortium meeting
by Sassi, Franco 10 Mar '26

10 Mar '26

Dear All, Please, find attached an agenda for today's meeting, starting at 2pm CET. I will take this opportunity to remind you that you can access the shared folder for the proposal on Box, at the following link: https://imperialcollegelondon.app.box.com/folder/366337230328?s=ajip5u10vfe… When editing the application document, please, add your contributions as comments on the side of the text. Alternatively, if you wish to edit the text directly, please, remember to do it in track changes mode, so that all changes can be easily identified. If this is your first time accessing Box, you will need to create a free account and accept the collaboration invitation. I attach a short guide to walk you through the process, including how to create an account, navigate the folder, and edit documents. A couple of things to note: - When prompted "Part of Imperial College London?", please click Not part of Imperial College London and log in with your own Box.com credentials. - Clicking on a file will open a preview - to edit, click Open at the top of the screen and select your preferred application (e.g. Microsoft Word for Web). If you have any questions or experience any difficulty accessing the folder, please contact us at zhealth-mgmt(a)imperial.ac.uk<mailto:zhealth-mgmt@imperial.ac.uk> and we will be happy to help. Franco

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Z-HEALTH development update
by Sassi, Franco 06 Mar '26

06 Mar '26

Dear Colleagues, I apologise for the limited communication to the wider consortium since the last meeting. Work has continued through bilateral exchanges, and I am writing with an update on the progress of our proposal. I realise this is a long email containing a lot of information and requests for feedback. I would be grateful if you could read it carefully and provide your inputs in the areas identified below. 1. The next Consortium meeting will be held online. Unfortunately, too few people were able to travel to Oslo to justify an in-person meeting. So, the meeting will now be in two parts: * 10 March from 14:00-17:00 CET and * 13 March from 15:00-17:00 CET. The third and potentially final meeting of the whole Consortium will be online on 30 March from 14:00-17:00 CET. You should have received a diary invite for all three meetings. If not, please, do not hesitate to let the proposal management team know at the following address: zhealth-mgmt(a)imperial.ac.uk<mailto:zhealth-mgmt@imperial.ac.uk>. 1. All documentation for the proposal is filed on Imperial's Box system. You should have received an invitation to access the folder. When you accept the invitation, please, click on the option "not part of Imperial." You should be prompted to set up an account with Box. Once you have done this you should be able to login. If you have any queries or difficulty in accessing the files please contact the<mailto:jack.olney@imperial.ac.uk> management team at the address above. 1. When you access the shared folder (named "Behavioural-Interventions-shared"), one of the sub-folders, named "Application", contains the Word document "Z-HEALTH proposal_1402" which is an annotated version of the grant application, partially filled in with a revised framework and work package structure. You may also easily access this file from the following link<https://imperialcollegelondon.box.com/s/2nircjp7jih1zcs00hw8mvu2exylxq38>. From now on, this will be the working document in which we will invite each member of the Consortium to add their comments and contributions. 1. The draft proposal includes a proposed work package structure, which is also attached here as a PowerPoint slide. The structure is currently based on the assumption that we will implement two intervention packages (WPs 4 and 5) in the project, reflecting two of the three age transitions outlined on page 8 of the proposal. The idea is that we would focus on school-age children (12-15 and 16-18, respectively), but if you think that we should add a third intervention package covering the third transition (age 19-25), we could do that too. We have not yet tried to allocate responsibilities for individual WPs, but some would seem fairly obvious (e.g. EuroHealthNet is probably well placed to lead WP9; WPs 4, 5 and 6 would need to be led by partners involved in implementing the interventions; WP8 could be led by Imperial or Isinnova; etc.). Each WP will include several tasks, of course, and we will need to identify task leaders as well. It would be great to receive your comments on the proposed structure, which can still be changed to a large extent, if needed. 1. Interventions. Thank you to those who have already contributed examples of potential interventions. Our current thinking on interventions can be summarised in the following points: * We will design two multi-component intervention packages aimed at the age groups 12-15 and 16-18, respectively (a possible third package could be aimed at the group 18-25). Each intervention package will be deployed in at least three countries, with each country possibly deciding what components they are able to implement. We will need more partners to be able to deliver interventions in multiple countries. * Each intervention component will cover a domain (e.g. health literacy; digital media exposure; etc.) and may include multiple actions. WPs 4 and 5 will involve tasks corresponding to the co-creation and planning of different intervention components. Each component will be "evidence-based" (possibly in other settings or age groups) but I would not expect the intervention package as a whole to have been implemented before. * In the interventions based in schools, we should rely on school health services and teachers, and leverage youth co-creation. This will enable us to cover the three key target groups of the call (health professionals, educators, young people). 1. We are still looking for further examples of interventions, consistent with the principles set out in the previous point, to include in our intervention packages. I would be grateful if each partner could provide suggestions of any relevant and age-appropriate interventions. The information we would ideally want to receive is outlined in a questionnaire format in the attached Word document. You don't need to fill out the entire questionnaire, you may just provide some of the information in an email if you find it easier. We are collecting examples of interventions in a spreadsheet in the shared Box folder, available at this link<https://imperialcollegelondon.box.com/s/v82i3vjhelwhzex3dr8rbzq4nek2zb6a>. 1. As the proposal, WP structure and interventions are gradually shaping up, we need to complete the consortium by adding partners who can cover all the required roles, especially partners who can deliver the interventions in their own countries. We have received a number of suggestions and we are following up on some of those, but please help us identify any further collaborators (national public health agencies, universities, civil society organisations) that you think would be a good fit. 1. Proposals must be submitted by 16 April, so there is no room for delays in the coming weeks and we need everyone's active collaboration. We have prepared a timetable of remaining activities up to the submission date, which you will also find attached to this message. Please note the deadlines. With many thanks, Franco

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