Projects

ENACT (Environmental Effect on Health Care and Wellbeing through Active Interventions) is an ambitious European project whose main objective is to understand how environmental factors influence human health and to develop innovative tools to predict, monitor, and prevent non-communicable chronic diseases.

Funded by the European Union through the HORIZON-HLTH-2024-ENVHLTH-02-06 programme, the project will run for 42 months, and it addresses the urgent need to tackle the effects of the environment on public health, an increasingly critical issue in Europe.

A Silent Threat: The Environment and Non-Communicable Diseases

Non-communicable diseases already account for 80% of the disease burden in the European Union and are the leading cause of premature death, reducing both quality of life and life expectancy, while placing significant economic pressure on healthcare systems.

In recent decades, numerous studies have warned about the negative impact of so-called environmental stressors—factors in the environment that directly affect health. The most studied include:

• Air temperature

• Air pollution (particulate matter and gases)

• Urban noise

• Food contaminants

• Radiation

More recently, new risk factors have been identified, such as exposure to electromagnetic fields or artificial light, which may be linked to eye and skin diseases or sleep disorders.

Air pollution alone was responsible for over 311,000 premature deaths per year in the European Union up to the end of 2022, and is directly linked to cardiovascular diseases (heart attack, stroke), chronic respiratory conditions, and mental health issues such as depression.

An Innovative and Predictive Approach

In response to this scenario, ENACT proposes the creation of a next-generation environmental risk model (exposomic): a platform capable of evaluating, predicting, and preventing the combined effects of the environment on both individual and public health.

This model will enable:

• The development of a personalised environmental risk score system, based on real data from both the environment and the individual.

• The creation of a digital platform to support patients, healthcare professionals, and policymakers.

• The integration of individual vulnerability factors (age, genetic predisposition, pre-existing conditions) into predictive models.

• A reduction in both the human and economic burden of non-communicable diseases through proactive prevention strategies and personalised clinical management.

Through a combination of technology, data science, clinical knowledge, and political collaboration, ENACT positions itself as a pioneering project in integrating environmental impact into healthcare. Its goal is not only to diagnose or treat, but to anticipate, protect, and improve the lives of millions across Europe.

Clinical, Technological and Political Impact

ENACT’s approach goes beyond the medical field. The project aims to generate impact at three levels:

• Clinical: by enabling more personalised healthcare, focused on prevention and early control of chronic diseases.

• Technological: through the development of innovative digital tools for analysing, visualising, and managing environmental risk.

• Political and social: by providing robust scientific evidence to inform more effective, sustainable, and people-centred public health and environmental policies.

A Multidisciplinary European Consortium

ENACT is composed of a consortium of 21 partners from 10 European countries: Belgium, Spain, Estonia, Greece, Italy, Bulgaria, Finland, Ireland, Romania, and the Netherlands. This diversity ensures broad territorial representation and a rich blend of scientific, technological, and cultural perspectives—key to the success of a project of this scale.

For more information about the ENACT project and its progress, please visit the official website.