LungHealth4Life will encourage children to look after their lungs from a young age. Long-term lung conditions are an important public health problem. The number of people living with these conditions is rising across Europe.  

In the past, avoiding smoking was considered the main way to avoid long-term lung conditions, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). However, we now know that there are more factors that contribute to lung conditions. These include the genes we inherit from our parents and exposure to things in our environment, such as air pollution.  

If we can spot the beginning of these diseases, we can encourage changes to behaviour to reduce the risk of developing lung conditions. It can also allow any treatment that is needed to start early.  

The LungHealth4Life project will offer lung health checks in schools, known as spirometry, alongside lessons that teach about the importance of lung health.  

The project’s goals are: 

• Gather examples of successful strategies for encouraging children to look after their health  
• Run projects bringing lung health checks into schools and finding the best ways to deliver these  
• Looking at any barriers to improved health, including societal, health and environmental factors that cause inequalities  
• Provide education on the factors that contribute to long-term lung conditions  
• Spotting any problems with the lungs early on and looking at how common lung problems are among school-age children.  

Read more about our project partners and how the project is coordinated: