Acronym: CC4C
Starting date: 01/04/2026
Duration: 36 months
Cerebral Palsy (3/1000 live births) and Acquired Brain Injury (one million hospital admissions annually) result in neuromotor impairments for thousands of children. These lifelong conditions represent a pervasive challenge for patients, families and healthcare systems. European paediatric neurorehabilitation settings are based on tertiary-care hospitals that offer a wide range of intensive treatments with specialized equipment. According to the WHO, the demand for rehabilitation services is about ten times higher than the current capacity. Moreover, the transition from hospital to home and community can be a particular source of stress for families, potentially jeopardizing the continuity of care and long-term achievement of effective rehabilitation outcomes. Low to mid-cost rehabilitation technologies have seen significant growth and adoption in recent years. They offer engaging rehabilitation experiences, allowing patients to undergo therapy in familiar and convenient settings, such as their own homes and schools. The aim of CC4C is to facilitate effective therapy for children with neuromotor impairments and reduce the overall socioeconomic burden by transitioning from tertiary-care to home and community-based technology-supported rehabilitation, ensuring greater continuity of care.
The specific objectives of the project are:
- To assess the needs, facilitators and barriers of implementing home and community rehabilitation services for children in EU countries;
- To co-design, implement and evaluate pilot test services of home and community rehabilitation in partnership with local agencies and families of children with neuromotor impairments;
- To refine rehabilitation technologies on the basis of user needs and market availability;
- To provide sustainability strategies and to strengthen community-based healthcare professionals’ skills through capacity-building activities.
The project started on 1 April 2026 and will last 36 months. The consortium’s multidisciplinarity will drive impactful improvements in patient care across Europe.
Coordinator: Scientific Institute IRCCS Medea, Bosisio Parini, Italy
PI: Emilia Biffi, email: Questo indirizzo email è protetto dagli spambots. È necessario abilitare JavaScript per vederlo.
Project partners:
Azienda Socio-Sanitaria Territoriale (ASST) of Lecco (ASST-LC)
ALYN Hospital (ALYN) Jerusalem, Israel
MAGNES AG (MAGNES), Zurich, Switzerland
Hanze University of Applied Sciences (HUAS), The Netherlands
The project has received funding from:
- FRRB (Fondazione Regionale per la Ricerca Biomedica, Regione Lombardia, Italy),
- Innosuisse (Schweizerische Agentur Für Innovationsforderung, Switzerland)
- CSO-MOH (Ministry of Health, Israel)
- NWO (Nederlandse Organisatie Voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek, the Netherlands)
under the framework of the co-fund partnership of Transforming Health and Care Systems, THCS, (GA N° 101095654 of the EU Horizon Europe Research and Innovation Programme)
