First Official Working Meeting on Humancode Project

The first official working meeting between the partners of the new project, which we launched at the end of last year, was held on January 23, 2026 in Sofia. Representatives of all involved organizations were present – colleagues from universities, hospitals and civil society organizations from Bulgaria, Ukraine and Romania. The project’s leading organization is the Thracian University in Stara Zagora.

The direction of our efforts will be towards improving public health and reducing health inequalities in the context of preventive measures against communicable and non-communicable diseases. The focus of our work is on vaccine-preventable oncological diseases, in particular those caused by HPV.

The project has the working title HUMANCODE, is funded by the EU4Health Programme and has a duration of 3 years. During this time, together with partners, we will contribute to better awareness and health culture of people in disadvantaged situations.

The specific work of our organization includes spreading knowledge about HPV and the importance of vaccine prevention, as well as working with general practitioners and professionals from the HPV Coalition to achieve the project’s goals.

A special guest at our meeting was virologist Prof. Radka Argirova, who briefly presented the main directions of the EU’s work on the topic – prevention, screening, treatment and quality of life, as well as the challenges related to HPV vaccination in Eastern Europe.

Greetings to the participants were also sent and delivered by the Rector of the Thracian University, Prof. Miroslav Karabaliev, and the Chief State Inspector of the Ministry of Health, Assoc. Prof. Angel Kunchev.

After the official speeches and protocol presentations of each of the organizations, we carried out work related to the review and scheduling of the planned specific activities. During the discussion Dr. Gergana Nikolova, Deputy Chair and Spokesperson of the National Association of General Practitioners in Bulgaria joined and actively participated.

The HUMANCODE project aims to improve public health and reduce health inequalities in Eastern Europe by implementing integrated and sustainable measures for the prevention of infectious and non-communicable diseases, with a particular focus on vaccine-preventable oncological diseases (mainly HPV-related cancers) among vulnerable and socio-economically disadvantaged groups.