RSU Institute of Public Health to participate in international project on reducing burden of infection-related cancer
The Rīga Stradiņš University (RSU) Institute of Public Health is one of the partners in the international EU4Health project the European Joint Action on Strategy for Health Interventions for Elimination of Infection-Related Cancer (SHIELD). The aim of the project is to reduce morbidity and premature mortality caused by infectious diseases and related cancers, particularly those associated with hepatitis B and C virus infections (HBV, HCV), HIV infection, tuberculosis, and human papillomavirus (HPV) infections. The SHIELD project is coordinated by the Centre of Excellence for Health, Immunity and Infections (CHIP) at Rigshospitalet in Denmark.
Key facts
- The project involves 69 organisations from 25 countries.
- The total funding amounts to more than €24 million over three years.
- The RSU Institute of Public Health will participate in several project activities, including the evaluation of national biomedical prevention programmes, reducing barriers to vaccination, improving HPV and HBV prevention, and addressing disease-related stigma and discrimination associated with HIV, HBV, tuberculosis, and sexually transmitted infections (STIs).
Why is this important?
One in eight cancer cases is caused by an infection, such as HBV, HCV, and HPV, which could have been avoided through preventive measures and treatment1.
Although immunisation and screening programmes have been introduced in many European countries, including Latvia, several structural and individual barriers remain that prevent people from vaccination or lead to late treatment, when the infection has already caused the development of cancer.
Although childhood vaccination is included in the national immunisation programme in Latvia, vaccination coverage against certain infectious diseases remains low. For example, according to data published by the Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, in 2024, only 25.6% of girls and 19.7% of boys2 received the full HPV vaccination course (two doses) on time (at the age of 12).
What will SHIELD do?
The SHIELD Joint Action project will work on making vaccination against HPV and HBV more accessible to a larger number of people and to improve testing for the diagnosis of HBV, HCV, HPV, HIV, and tuberculosis.
Based on cost-effectiveness assessments and the epidemiological situation in each country and region, as well as the burden of infectious diseases and vaccination coverage (HPV and HBV), modelling tools will be developed during the project. These tools will help to better understand the national situation regarding the diagnosis and treatment of these infections (HBV, HCV, HPV, HIV, and tuberculosis) and to assess the potential impact of different interventions on reducing the spread of these infections.
In addition to the main objective of the SHIELD Joint Action project:
- participating countries will be supported in reducing stigma and discrimination related to HIV, HBV, TB, and STIs;
- healthcare professionals will be trained to avoid stigmatisation during counselling and treatment.
access to information on infection prevention and treatment will be improved; - information on infection prevention, testing, and treatment will be improved and adapted for healthcare systems and prison settings;
- information on good practice examples for increasing vaccination coverage in Europe will be collected and disseminated.
Participation of the RSU Institute of Public Health in the SHIELD project
As a partner in the SHIELD project, the RSU Institute of Public Health will be involved in four work packages (Work Packages 5, 6, 7, and 8) in the Latvian context. Within these work packages, the following issues will be addressed:
- evaluation of national biomedical prevention programmes, including integrated testing and vaccination, and implementation of measures to reduce disease-related stigma and discrimination (HIV, HBV, HCV, tuberculosis, and STIs);
- improvement of vaccination coverage monitoring and evaluation of the impact of integrated vaccination and screening programmes;
- reducing barriers to vaccination and improvement of prevention strategies against HPV and HBV
building intervention capacity at the European and national level and for risk groups.
Additional information
The project's page on the RSU website
Project manager: RSU Institute of Public Health Acting Lecturer Larisa Savrasova (larisa[pnkts]savrasova
rsu[pnkts]lv)
1 De Martel, C., Georges, D., Bray, F., Ferlay, J., & Clifford, G. M. 2020. "Global burden of cancer attributable to infections in 2018: a worldwide incidence analysis". The Lancet. Global health, 8(2), e180–e190. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2214-109X(19)30488-7
2 The Latvian Disease Prevention and Control Center, 16 July 2025, epidemiological bulletin nr. 29 (1948) Imunizācijas līmeņa un savlaicīguma analīze par 2024. gada janvāri–decembri, (https://www.spkc.gov.lv/lv/parskati-par-imunizaciju)
