FRESHAIR4Life update: October 2024

FRESHAIR4Life, a four-year implementation science project, is committed to reducing adolescents' exposure to air pollution and tobacco to help prevent non-communicable diseases. IPCRG leads work package 7 (WP7) , which aims to enhance local capacity through tailored educational programmes that empower local teams to design and implement interventions from the "prevention palette" specifically suited to their community’s unique needs.

A key element of WP7 is an ongoing e-learning course on developing social media campaigns for health promotion, running until mid-December. So far, participants have covered the essential areas of campaign strategy, audience analysis, and content planning, with upcoming sessions focusing on content creation and behaviour change strategies.

In parallel, preparation for the FRESHAIR4Life Teach the Teacher programme has begun, aiming to enhance the competence and confidence of professionals who will train national teams of "implementers" for the project. Led by an IPCRG Master Faculty including IPCRG President Amanda Barnard, the programme addresses critical topics such as working with adolescents, effective teaching methods, behaviour change (with a focus on adolescents), and smoking cessation support. The curriculum also incorporates very brief advice (VBA), peer learning, principles of co-design, and "if/then" interventions.

A distinguished team of experts is leading these efforts: Darush Attar-Zadeh (UK, tobacco cessation), Kym Rizzo Liu (Western Sydney Local Health District, Australia), Hilary Wareing (iPiP, UK, tobacco cessation), and Lindsay Welch (University of Bournemouth, nursing, tobacco cessation, adolescents, teaching, curriculum design).

On 14 October, an annual meeting with the Work Package leads was held in Leiden to discuss alignment across work packages and streamline processes. The agenda included updates from WP3 on Greece and Uganda, WP4 on Kyrgyzstan and Pakistan, and a presentation from WP5 on a draft evaluation plan. Discussions centred on the strategies employed for the implementation of interventions and the selection of relevant outcomes to effectively measure their impact. Participants highlighted the need to improve handovers between work packages to facilitate seamless collaboration. Additionally, the capacity of local teams to conduct evaluation tasks was examined, with considerations given to the training and resources required.

For the latest updates, visit the FRESHAIR4Life webpage.