Value for Health CoLAB and NOVA Medical School – Faculdade de Ciências Médicas invite you all to participate in the guest lecture with Prof. Dr. Tobias Kowatsch, a renowned researcher specialised in digital health interventions.


What can we learn from Squid Game, Game of Thrones, or Breaking Bad to Lower the Socioeconomic Inequalities in Health?

Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) impose enormous health burdens on individuals and lead to substantial economic challenges. Known risk factors relate primarily to a lifestyle characterized by tobacco and excessive alcohol consumption, physical inactivity, or an unbalanced diet. This lifestyle can lead to obesity, hypertension, and other cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases. Unfortunately, individuals with lower socioeconomic status (SES) are substantially more affected by NCDs. These individuals are also underrepresented in clinical and non-clinical trials. As a result, health interventions are potentially only effective for individuals with higher SES and do not address those most in need. Therefore, it is essential to understand how to reach and engage individuals with lower SES.
In this talk, I will discuss what we can learn from the most successful TV shows to “hijack” the comfort zones of vulnerable individuals and design therapeutics that may lower socioeconomic inequalities in health.

Prof. Dr. Tobias Kowatsch

 

Come and join us, in person!