MOCHA project focuses on Child Health Care

EU funded project MOCHA (Models of Child Health Appraised) that will focus on child health services in Europe enters its first stage following past October’s kick-off meeting in London. Since December the project’s team started work on Work Package1 which will focus on the Identification of Models of Children’s Primary Health Care.

MOCHA consists of  a prestigious and impressive consortium led by Imperial College London and made up of 19 scientific partners from 10 European countries, including European University Cyprus, King’s College London, Maastricht University, plus prestigious partners from Switzerland (The University Hospital of Lausanne), the United States (Boston Children’s Hospital) and Australia (Murdoch Children’s Research Institute); as well as with country agents in 30 European Commission and European Economic Area countries.

The project began on 1st June 2015 with a three-month preparation phase which included creating a project website which you can find HERE, prior to an active research programme commencing on 1st September 2015 continuing until late autumn of 2018. The project will be managed from Imperial College London, coordinating the work of 11 separate work packages run by experts from European research institutions, including researchers from Imperial College London. The project’s team also includes EUC faculty Dr Adamos Hadjipanayis and Dr Christos Dimopoulos.

MOCHA will be one of the largest and most ambitious projects to look at child health services in Europe. Focusing on prevention and wellness, its results will demonstrate the optimal model(s) of child primary care. Alongside the results, the MOCHA project will analyze the factors (including cultural factors) which might facilitate the adoption of recommendations, and indications for policy makers of both the health and economic gains possible. Throughout its life, the project will have a strong dissemination programme, ensuring that dialogue with the public, professionals, policy makers and politicians is maintained and taken into account during the research.

Within its 42-month timescale, the MOCHA project will deliver major awareness and potential benefit for European children’s health and a healthy society.

The project is funded by the European Commission through the Horizon 2020 Framework with an overall budget of €6.8 million.