The United Nations has specifically addressed the need for preventing noncommunicable diseases in their "2030 agenda for sustainable development". While modern public health care originally emerged in response to infectious disease epidemics, public health now includes noncommunicable diseases. World Health Organization (WHO) defines noncommunicable diseases as Chronic Conditions (CCs) caused by a combination of genetic, physiological, environmental, and behavioural factors which can affect all age groups and countries. The main types of CCs include cardiovascular diseases (CVD), cancers, chronic respiratory diseases, and diabetes.
The WARIFA project developed and validated a prototype of a combined early risk-assessment tool that provides individual citizens with personalised recommendations for the prevention of CCs - such as CVD, melanoma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and diabetes – which represent the leading causes of mortality in the European Union. The WARIFA app was made available to citizens via a user-friendly smartphone app. The project demonstrated that AI-based combined early risk assessment empowers citizens to adopt healthier habits by delivering personalised guidance to modify risk behaviours.
At the individual level, citizens will be supported in improving by at least 20% each risk factor by increasing the level of physical activity; reducing sun exposure; and for people with type 1 diabetes - reducing the number of hypoglycaemic events and consequently of the related acute admissions in the health care system; or monitor the blood HbA1c level.
At the healthcare level, WARIFA may support earlier identification of CC risk by enabling citizens to self-assess and track risk behaviours, potentially increasing the likelihood of timely prevention and diagnosis. Regarding the organisational structures, WARIFA could help clinicians improve efficiency and resource utilization by reducing the number of consultations for risk assessment and by encouraging prevention-oriented pathways.
WARIFAs interdisciplinary collaboration enabled the WARIFA prototype to reach TRL 7 by the end of the project. The development of the WARIFA app followed an iterative cycle of design, development, testing, and feedback. Throughout 2024 and 2025 the consortium made significant progress, regarding data collection and app development. By M54, all six project milestones were accomplished, and each of the 52 planned deliverables were successfully submitted. The project is now at the end of its planned duration, with 958.71 PMs reported, representing 100% of the total PMs planned.
