Implementation research addressing strategies to strengthen health systems for equitable high-quality care and health outcomes in the context of non-communicable diseases (GACD)

The grant opportunity HORIZON-HLTH-2025-01-DISEASE-06 is part of the Horizon Europe program, focusing on implementation research to enhance health systems, specifically targeting non-communicable diseases (NCDs). The initiative addresses health equity and aims to bolster care quality for underserved populations in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) and disadvantaged communities within high-income countries (HICs).

Eligible applicants include universities, research institutes, NGOs, and public-private partnerships, particularly those with multidisciplinary teams. The grant emphasizes equitable partnerships among HIC and LMIC entities, including Indigenous and non-Indigenous groups. It is structured as a grant under the HORIZON-RIA framework, focusing primarily on funding projects rather than loans or equity stakes.

A consortium approach is encouraged, with a required emphasis on collaboration between various institutions, highlighting the importance of shared leadership. Geographically, the grant extends internationally but targets LMICs and communities facing health disparities, with a alignment to the EU framework for global health equity.

The grant specifically addresses health sectors related to NCDs, aiming at systems that can effectively manage chronic conditions through implementation science, digital health interventions, and policy development. Although individual countries are not named, applicants can emerge from any EU member state, associated countries, and specific non-EU countries, including the United States.

In terms of project stage, the grant supports validated implementation research rather than basic research, focusing on proven interventions adapted for real-world applications. While the total funding amount remains unspecified, similar grants indicate contributions may range from €1M to €5M, with a total budget estimated at around €20 million for the entire call.

The application process is a single-stage, open call, with a submission deadline of September 16, 2025. The nature of support is financial, covering eligible research costs without explicit co-funding requirements noted.

Proposals must prioritize stakeholder engagement, sustainability, and capacity building, particularly for early-career researchers. Projects should incorporate validated frameworks and evidence-based interventions, track outcomes, and engage diverse community stakeholders in implementation strategies. While success rates are not explicitly mentioned, they tend to be competitive, typically ranging from 10% to 39%.

Overall, the grant aims to foster a shift towards equitable healthcare systems that can manage and treat chronic diseases effectively, promoting healthier communities and reducing the burden of NCDs worldwide. The call is also aligned with broader EU health objectives, emphasizing the necessity of translating research into actionable health policies and outcomes.

This EU grant opportunity focuses on implementation research to strengthen health systems for equitable, high-quality care and improved health outcomes, specifically addressing non-communicable diseases (NCDs) in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) and disadvantaged populations in high-income countries (HICs). The goal is to provide healthcare practitioners, public health managers, researchers, clinicians, authorities, local stakeholders, and communities with the necessary information and evidence-based interventions to transform health systems and ensure equitable access to care, ultimately reducing the burden of NCDs and promoting healthier lives.

The European Commission is part of the Global Alliance for Chronic Diseases (GACD), and this call aligns with the 10th GACD call. The program recognizes that health systems in many countries, particularly LMICs, struggle to manage the increasing burden of NCDs, which require costly long-term care. The program aims to address health inequalities related to geographical location, socioeconomic status, gender, ethnicity, and disability, which are often exacerbated by systemic weaknesses in healthcare infrastructure.

The grant seeks to shift healthcare systems from a disease-focused, hospital-based model to a more holistic model that involves communities and primary care, emphasizing health maintenance. This includes interventions related to care integration, screening, access to medicines and technologies, task shifting, and digital health interventions. The program emphasizes the importance of equity in health, ensuring that resources and processes are designed to equalize health outcomes for populations experiencing health disparities.

Applicants are expected to conduct implementation research focused on evidence-based interventions that can be adapted and implemented in LMICs and disadvantaged populations in HICs. The research should focus on building equity-oriented health systems change to tackle the growing burden of chronic conditions, including NCDs, mental health disorders, neurological disorders, and sleep disorders. Applicants must justify the choice of intervention(s) and provide existing evidence of their effectiveness, cost-effectiveness, sustainability, scalability, and potential for long-term health impacts. A limited period of testing the effectiveness of adapted interventions is considered appropriate.

Proposals should include a research plan using validated implementation research frameworks or hybrid design research. They should also have a strategy for measuring implementation research outcomes and real-world effectiveness outcomes and indicators, specifically addressing health equity and the principles of Universal Health Coverage (UHC). The research team should be multidisciplinary and demonstrate equitable partnership and shared leadership between HIC-LMIC, and/or non-Indigenous-Indigenous members, and external stakeholders. A stakeholder engagement strategy with evidence of support from key stakeholders for delivering patient-centered care is required. Proposals should demonstrate the sustainability of the strategy beyond the project's lifespan and provide opportunities for implementation research capacity building for early career researchers and team members from lower-resourced environments. Meaningful involvement of early career team members, including at least one as a co-investigator, is essential.

The study population may include the general population, people with or without existing NCDs, or a combination of both, including patients with NCDs and chronic infectious diseases. Appropriate implementation research designs, such as feasibility studies, cluster randomized control trials (cRCTs), and before-and-after studies, are expected. Proposals should generate evidence directly relevant to policymakers, communities, and practitioners, with a strategy for including relevant stakeholders in the project's development, implementation, and knowledge translation phases.

The effective contribution of social sciences and humanities (SSH) disciplines and the involvement of SSH experts are required. All projects are encouraged to participate in networking and joint activities, including workshops, scientific meetings, knowledge exchange, and joint communication activities, with a budget allocated for such activities. Applicants including clinical studies should provide details in a dedicated annex.

Admissibility conditions, proposal page limits, eligible countries, financial and operational capacity, evaluation and award criteria, submission and evaluation processes, indicative timeline, and legal and financial setup are detailed in the Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes and related guidance documents.

The available budget and indicative number of grants for various topics under the HORIZON-HLTH-2025-01 call are as follows:

HORIZON-HLTH-2025-01-CARE-01: 40,000,000 EUR, contributions of 15,000,000 to 20,000,000 EUR, 2 grants

HORIZON-HLTH-2025-01-DISEASE-01: 45,000,000 EUR, contributions around 15,000,000 EUR, 3 grants

HORIZON-HLTH-2025-01-DISEASE-03: 50,000,000 EUR, contributions around 10,000,000 EUR, 5 grants

HORIZON-HLTH-2025-01-DISEASE-04: 35,000,000 EUR, contributions of 6,000,000 to 8,000,000 EUR, 5 grants

HORIZON-HLTH-2025-01-DISEASE-05: 2,000,000 EUR, contributions around 2,000,000 EUR, 1 grant

HORIZON-HLTH-2025-01-DISEASE-06: 20,000,000 EUR, contributions of 3,000,000 to 4,000,000 EUR, 5 grants

HORIZON-HLTH-2025-01-DISEASE-07: 30,000,000 EUR, contributions around 6,000,000 EUR, 5 grants

HORIZON-HLTH-2025-01-IND-01: 40,000,000 EUR, contributions of 6,000,000 to 8,000,000 EUR, 5 grants

HORIZON-HLTH-2025-01-IND-02: 4,000,000 EUR, contributions around 4,000,000 EUR, 1 grant

HORIZON-HLTH-2025-01-TOOL-01: 50,000,000 EUR, contributions of 8,000,000 to 10,000,000 EUR, 5 grants

HORIZON-HLTH-2025-01-TOOL-02: 40,000,000 EUR, contributions of 9,000,000 to 13,000,000 EUR, 3 grants

HORIZON-HLTH-2025-01-TOOL-03: 50,000,000 EUR, contributions of 15,000,000 to 17,000,000 EUR, 3 grants

HORIZON-HLTH-2025-01-TOOL-05: 80,000,000 EUR, contributions of 4,000,000 to 8,000,000 EUR, 10 grants

The opening date for submissions is May 22, 2025, and the deadline is September 16, 2025, at 17:00:00 Brussels time.

In summary, this Horizon Europe call aims to fund research and innovation actions that strengthen health systems in LMICs and disadvantaged populations in HICs to address the growing burden of NCDs. It emphasizes equitable access to care, community engagement, multidisciplinary research teams, and the translation of evidence into policy and practice. The call encourages projects to participate in networking activities and provides a comprehensive set of guidelines and resources for applicants.

This funding opportunity is designed to bolster health systems in low- and middle-income countries, as well as disadvantaged communities within high-income nations, to better manage and treat non-communicable diseases. It's about moving away from just treating sickness in hospitals to a more proactive approach that involves local communities and focuses on keeping people healthy. The EU is looking for projects that can show how to make healthcare more fair and accessible, ensuring that everyone, regardless of their background or location, has a chance to live a healthy life. They want to see research that not only comes up with good ideas but also figures out how to put those ideas into practice in real-world settings, making a lasting difference in people's lives.

Eligible Applicant Types: The eligible applicant types are legal entities established in EU member states, associated countries, and under specific conditions, legal entities from non-EU/non-associated countries, including the United States of America. The call targets healthcare practitioners and providers, public health managers and authorities, researchers, clinicians, authorities, communities, and local stakeholders. The specific types of organizations that can apply are not explicitly mentioned, but based on the scope, they could include universities, research institutions, hospitals, public health organizations, NGOs, and potentially SMEs involved in health-related activities.

Funding Type: The funding type is primarily a grant, specifically a HORIZON Research and Innovation Action (RIA) and HORIZON Coordination and Support Actions (CSA) and HORIZON Innovation Actions (IA) under the Horizon Europe Programme. This implies budget-based grants where funding is allocated to cover eligible costs of the research and innovation activities.

Consortium Requirement: The opportunity appears to favor a consortium approach, particularly encouraging equitable partnership and shared leadership between High-Income Countries (HIC) and Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMIC) entities, as well as between non-Indigenous and Indigenous members. While not explicitly stated that a single applicant cannot apply, the emphasis on multidisciplinary approaches, stakeholder engagement, and capacity building suggests that a consortium is highly desirable.

Beneficiary Scope (Geographic Eligibility): The geographic eligibility includes EU member states, associated countries, and under specific conditions, legal entities from non-EU/non-associated countries. There is a specific mention of the United States of America being eligible for Union funding. The focus is on implementation in Low- and Middle-Income Countries (LMICs) and/or disadvantaged populations experiencing health disparities in High-Income Countries (HICs).

Target Sector: The primary target sector is health, specifically focusing on strengthening health systems for equitable high-quality care and health outcomes in the context of non-communicable diseases (NCDs). This includes a wide range of NCDs, including mental health disorders, neurological disorders, and sleep disorders. The program also targets implementation science, digital health interventions, access to medicines and technologies, task shifting, and health policy entrepreneurship.

Mentioned Countries: United States of America, low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), high-income countries (HICs).

Project Stage: The project stage is focused on implementation research, which suggests projects should be at the development, validation, or demonstration stage. The call emphasizes adapting and implementing evidence-based interventions, indicating that projects should not be at the very early stages of research (e.g., idea or basic research) but rather ready for real-world application and evaluation.

Funding Amount: The funding amount varies depending on the specific topic within the call, ranging from €2,000,000 for Coordination and Support Actions (CSA) to €15,000,000 to €20,000,000 for Research and Innovation Actions (RIA). Some topics have indicative budgets ranging from €3,000,000 to €8,000,000, while others have fixed amounts around €6,000,000 or €10,000,000.

Application Type: The application type is an open call with a single-stage submission process.

Nature of Support: The beneficiaries will receive money in the form of grants to cover eligible costs associated with the research and innovation actions.

Application Stages: The application process is a single-stage process.

Success Rates: The success rates are not explicitly mentioned, but the indicative number of grants for each topic provides some insight. For example, a topic with a budget of €40,000,000 and an indicative number of 2 grants suggests a highly competitive environment. Conversely, a topic with a smaller budget and only one grant to be awarded would also be very competitive.

Co-funding Requirement: The information does not explicitly state a co-funding requirement. As Horizon Europe primarily provides grants to cover eligible costs, co-funding is not necessarily mandatory but can strengthen a proposal by demonstrating additional commitment and resources.

Summary: This Horizon Europe call, under Cluster 1 Health, focuses on implementation research to strengthen health systems for equitable care and outcomes related to non-communicable diseases (NCDs). It targets low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) and disadvantaged populations within high-income countries (HICs). The call encourages multidisciplinary consortia to adapt and implement evidence-based interventions, emphasizing stakeholder engagement, health equity, and capacity building. Funding is provided through budget-based grants, with amounts varying by topic, and the application process is a single-stage open call. The overall goal is to improve healthcare practices, inform policy, and enhance the quality of life for individuals affected by NCDs, aligning with the objectives of the Global Alliance for Chronic Diseases (GACD) and Universal Health Coverage (UHC). The call is structured to support activities that contribute to "Tackling diseases and reducing disease burden" by improving access to information for healthcare practitioners, enhancing insights for public health managers, fostering understanding among researchers and authorities, and engaging communities in implementing effective interventions.