LIH Joins Horizon Europe’s EMPOWER Project to Improve Chronic Disease Care in West Africa

• Department of Precision Health
• Ageing, Cancer, and Disparities Research Unit – ACADI

The Luxembourg Institute of Health (LIH) is proud to be part of the newly funded Horizon Europe EMPOWER project. The program’s full name is Empowering People Living with Chronic Disease and Frontline Health Workers to Tackle the Burden of Chronic Diseases in Sub-Saharan Africa.

The project, part of the Global Alliance for Chronic Diseases (GACD) program, aims to improve chronic disease management in Benin and Togo. It will train health workers on the ground in strategies and digital health tools recommended by the World Health Organization to tackle the burden of chronic diseases in an organized and coordinated way, including community-based activities.

With a total budget of 4.8 million euros, the project will run for 4 years starting in fall 2025 and the LIH will be responsible for evaluating the intervention implementation. Members of the Ageing, Cancer, and Disparities Research Unit (ACADI), including group leader Dr. Sophie Pilleron, Dr. India Pinker, and a PhD student that will be recruited, will lead this evaluation.

EMPOWER represents a crucial opportunity to bridge healthcare gaps in West Africa by investing frontline workers with evidence-based tools,

said Dr. Sophie Pilleron, leader of the project at the LIH and head of the ACADI group.

EMPOWER is coordinated by the University of Limoges in France. The international consortium includes the LIH, the University of Abomey-Calavi (Benin), the University of Lomé (Togo), Swiss TPH (Switzerland), Università di Catania (Italy), and the Université Numérique Francophone Mondiale (France).