On 23 November, the Global Health EDCTP3 Joint Undertaking has acquired financial autonomy from the European Commission to implement its own budget.
Infectious diseases such as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), malaria, tuberculosis (TB), neglected and emerging infectious diseases remain a major concern in sub-Saharan Africa.
Established on 30 November 2021, the Global Health EDCTP3 Joint Undertaking (Global Health EDCTP3 JU) is the EU’s landmark clinical trials partnership with Africa, working to deliver new solutions to reduce the burden of infectious diseases in sub-Saharan Africa and to strengthen research capacities to prepare and respond to re-emerging infectious diseases. It follows the successful EDCTP and EDCTP2 programmes, which have supported clinical research and capacity building in the field of infectious diseases since 2003 and have contributed to the development of key health interventions, including the R21/Matrix-M vaccine recently recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) for the prevention of malaria in children.
The Global Health EDCTP3 JU now enters a new implementation phase, under which it will be independent to manage its own decisions and its (up to) €1.6 billion budget, streamlining and simplifying operations Under the steer of Dr Michael Makanga, Executive Director, Global Health EDCTP3 JU is expected to publish its 2024 Work Programme with all research funding opportunities for that year in the first quarter of 2024.
Iliana Ivanova, Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth said:
“Cooperation between European and African countries in research is crucial for global health and sustainable development. With financial autonomy, the Global Health EDCTP3 Joint Undertaking takes a crucial step on its path to becoming one of the biggest public funders of infectious diseases clinical research in the world.”
Background information
The European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP) exists to accelerate the clinical development of new or improved health technologies for the identification, treatment and prevention of poverty-related and neglected infectious diseases, including (re-)emerging diseases.
The Global Health EDCTP3 Joint Undertaking builds on the first and second European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership programmes. This new joint undertaking is a partnership between the EU and the EDCTP Association, whose members are 15 European and 27 African countries.
The European Commission has been responsible for the establishment and initial operation of the Global Health EDCTP3 JU until yesterday, when it achieved the operational capacity to implement its own budget. DG Research and Innovation has carried out the necessary procedures in collaboration with the EDCTP Association of participating countries in Africa and Europe, the other partner in the Joint Undertaking, to ensure that all requirements were fulfilled before financial autonomy.
Under the Horizon Europe programmes for research and innovation, Joint Undertakings are set up as EU bodies with separate legal personalities. They adopt their research and innovation agenda in their strategic research area and implement it through calls for proposals or procurements.
The financial autonomy of the Global Health EDCTP3 JU follows the successful EDCTP Forum hosted in Paris on 7-10 November 2023 crafted around the theme Partnering for Global Health Research Innovation and Impact in Africa – Celebrating EDCTP: two decades and beyond. At the Forum, partners of the EDCTP programme, including the Commission, reflected on the achievements, impact, and challenges of the past 20 years of EDCTP, whilst looking forward to opportunities under the Global Health EDCTP3 programme.
More information
Global Health EDCTP3
EDCTP3 Annual Work Programme
Press contact:
EC Spokesperson for Research, Science and Innovation
