The Global Health EDCTP3 programme continued to expand in 2024, with a boost to funding and new countries from Africa joining the EDCTP Association.
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Global Health EDCTP3 in 2024
Other important developments in 2024 included the publication of the 2025 Global Health EDCTP3 work programme. It includes four calls covering seven topics, including TB vaccines, malaria therapeutics, neglected tropical disease (NTD) vaccines, training hubs for fellowships in public health, strengthening of EDCTP networks in Africa, diarrhoeal disease and climate impacts, and transformative innovations in global health.
The budget for the 2025 work programme has received a significant boost, thanks to additional resources committed by contributing partners and the EDCTP Association. The budget for training hubs for fellowships in public health has more than doubled, to €15 million, with 11 rather than five projects likely to be funded. The budget for network strengthening has increased from €40 million to €53 million, and the budgets for the calls on diarrhoeal disease and climate impacts, and transformative innovations in global health have also been increased.
Global Health EDCTP3 also activated its emergency funding mechanism to support projects on the mpox epidemic in sub-Saharan Africa, declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) in 2024. Following an extra injection of funding from members of the EDCTP Association, €12.1 million was awarded to support nine research projects focusing on mpox epidemiology, prevention and treatment. The projects bring together 43 institutions in nine African, 13 European and two North American countries.
Global Health EDCTP3 also agreed to make funds available to complete EDCTP2-funded clinical trials that had been severely delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Eight projects were funded through the €14 million initiative.
Global Health EDCTP3 has been identified as a key initiative within the EU Global Health Strategy, which sets out the EU’s global health objectives and how they will be achieved. Research, equitable access to medical interventions and partnerships of equals, central to EDCTP’s mission, are at the heart of the strategy.
The EU has multiple structures active in global health. In September 2024, EDCTP, in partnership with editors of Lancet journals, convened a forum to discuss Europe–Africa collaboration in global health and how greater impact could be achieved. The Forum identified several concrete steps to promote coordinated action across different EU bodies working in global health.
The successor to the EDCTP2 programme, Global Health EDCTP3, was launched in 2022. It is structured as a partnership between the European Union (represented by the European Commission) and the EDCTP Association, a coalition of European and African countries. In 2024, Eswatini and Namibia joined the EDCTP Association, which now numbers 15 European and 30 African countries. The UK joined the Horizon Europe programme in 2024, meaning UK institutions are now again able to apply for EDCTP funding.