Epidemiologist Awarded EU 2020/ERC Grant

Reducing Inequalities in Vaccine Uptake in the European Region - Engaging Underserved Communities” (RIVER EU) is a collaborative project between fourteen academic and public health organizations in ten countries in the EU and Israel.

The five-year project, with a €3.3 million budget from Horizon 2020, the European Union’s Framework Program for Research and Innovation, aims to reduce health systems barriers to vaccination among ethnic, religious or cultural minorities across Europe, specifically focusing on MMR and HPV vaccination in selected underserved communities.

Prof. Michael Edelstein, of the Azrieli Faculty of Medicine, will serve as the project’s deputy principal investigator, as well as lead for the work package focusing on collecting evidence on health system barriers and enablers among low (underserved communities) and high (positive deviants) uptake communities, and on interventions that improve access to vaccination services among underserved communities.

"This is a very exciting project that will have a positive impact on some of the most vulnerable populations in Europe and beyond, and I am proud that Bar-Ilan will make a significant contribution to it, said Prof. Edelstein."

Prof. Edelstein was recruited to the Azrieli Faculty through the generous support of the M.E.H. Fund in memory of the late Margot and Ernst Hamburger.