As demonstrated by the recent health emergency caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, health is an issue that crosses global borders, especially with regard to population health, and which urgently requires an European infrastructure for the exchange and sharing of health information among European Union (EU) countries.

 

During the COVID-19 pandemic, a considerable number of European countries did not have health information systems adequately equipped to manage the necessary data and information flows. Furthermore, rapid sharing and comparability of data and information across nations has proven difficult. To support efforts to strengthen health systems in Europe, important lessons may be learned from the pandemic emergency and best practices can be proposed to support EU Member States in evaluating their response to the COVID-19 pandemic. In general, therefore, beyond health emergencies, the availability and reliability of health information and data are of great importance.

 

In this context, the European PHIRI (Population Health Information Research Infrastructure) project, through the implementation of a population health information research infrastructure, plays a key role to more effectively coordinate efforts between national and European stakeholders, in order to produce the best available evidence for research on the health and well-being of populations affected by COVID-19 and guide the formulation of public health decisions.

 

The main objective is to support and facilitate research across Europe through the identification, access, evaluation and re-use of population health data to support Member States in public health policy decisions.

 

The PHIRI project, launched by the European Commission and lasting 36 months (November 2020-November 2023), involved 41 partners from 30 countries, including Italy with the participation of the Istituto Superiore di Sanità (ISS).

 

The project is composed of nine work packages (WP) which correspond to the main lines of research, dissemination and management of the project:

• WP1: Coordination and Management
• WP2: Communication and Portal Development
• WP3: Outreach, Engagement and Sustainability
• WP4: Health Information Portal for COVID-19
• WP5: Research Methodologies to Assess the Impact of COVID-19
• WP6: Research Use Cases Measuring the Impact of COVID-19 on Population Health
• WP7: Building a Federated Research Infrastructure for a Rapid Policy Response
• WP8: Rapid Exchange Forum
• WP9: Foresight: Modelling and Scenarios.

The ISS, as an Italian partner, participated in the entire project, but in particular in WP3, WP4, WP5, WP6, WP7 and WP8, involving the Department of Cardiovascular, Endocrine-Metabolic Diseases and Aging; for some specific activities the Department of Women's Health and Developmental Age of the ISS and the Polytechnic University of Marche.

 

 

The PHIRI project developed within the Health Information research line starting from the results of the previous BRIDGE-Health project (Bridging Information and Data Generation for Evidence-based health Policy and Research), started in May 2015 and lasting 30 months, and the Joint Action on Health Information (InfAct) which began in March 2018 and lasting 36 months.

 

Objectives of the Project

1. To provide a COVID-19 Health Information Portal through a federated infrastructure with FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) catalogues of health and healthcare data for the structured and federated exchange of information between European countries. The portal facilitates access and use of population health data relating to COVID-19 and healthcare provided by public health institutions in various Member States. The tools, made available on the portal, will allow researchers to connect different data sources and use pan-European data in compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
2. To foster a structured and federated exchange between EU countries on best practices and experiences tested during the COVID-19 pandemic. The sharing of information on clinical and public health management and the methodologies identified at national and international level will allow researchers to have evidence-based data ready to be used in research and decision-making processes by citizens, clinicians, public health and policy makers.
3. To promote interoperability and to address inequities in health information. The Portal aims to support researchers and public health bodies in seeking data on COVID-19 in accordance with the FAIR and ELSI (Ethical, Legal and Social Implications) principles.

One of the main products of the project was the development of the European Health Information Portal (HIP) for COVID-19, a European digital platform with a federated architecture consisting of catalogues of health information compliant with the FAIR and ELSI principles. The HIP makes easily available, accessible, interoperable and reusable data, relating to COVID-19 and to the health and healthcare of the European population, available to researchers and to public health institutions, also considering the ethical, legal and social implications linked to the collection and use of health data. Furthermore, the portal can be of support in dealing with future health emergencies.

 

The HIP was launched in May 2021 and contains data sources, population health studies, training materials and courses.

 

To know more

• visit the PHIRI project website www.phiri.eu
• the European HIP platform website www.healthinformationportal.eu
• the project presentation video
• the pages dedicated to the objectives and WPs on the PHIRI project website
• consult the information brochure of the project and of the Portal.

The final conference of the project

The final conference of the project (“PHIRI anniversary conference: From data to public health actions”) was held in September 2023, during which the main themes, activities and objectives of the project were discussed:

• Tools to enhance the reuse of healthcare data: FAIR catalogues and federated architecture. Population health data can be made more easily available, accessible, interoperable and reusable for research and health policymaking. The European Health Information Portal with its federated infrastructure contributes to achieving this objective.
• Empowerment of healthcare personnel in EU countries: presentation and reflections on the training activities of the PHIRI project, such as the European School on Health Information and training on Public Health Foresight Studies.
• Building stronger health systems: description of two important PHIRI activities, namely the evaluation of national health information systems and the work on forecasting, modelling and scenarios.
• Building collective intelligence: PHIRI Rapid Exchange Forum. The experience of the Rapid Exchange Forum has been illustrated; it allows a rapid exchange of information between the various European countries both during health emergencies, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, and in normal situations.

For further information, watch the video of the conference on the project's YouTube channel.