Implementation research for management of multiple long-term conditions in the context of non-communicable diseases (Global Alliance for Chronic Diseases – GACD)

Research

HORIZON

Deadline: November 26th, 2024

Grant: €4,000,000

Expected Outcome

This topic aims at supporting activities that are enabling or contributing to one or several expected impacts of destination 3 “Tackling diseases and reducing disease burden”. To that end, proposals under this topic should aim for delivering results that are directed, tailored towards and contributing to some of the following expected outcomes:

  • Health care practitioners and providers in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) and/or those in high-income countries (HICs) serving disadvantaged populations have access to and use specific guidelines to implement health interventions that improve the availability of effective, equitable, efficient, integrated, patient-centred, safe, and timely care and the overall quality of life for people living with multiple long-term conditions including non-communicable diseases (NCDs).
  • Public health managers and authorities, including from other relevant sector (e. g., social, culture) have access to improved insights and evidence on how to decrease the fragmentation of care for patients living with multiple chronic conditions, and ensure continuity of care across all stages of disease progression. They use this knowledge to design policies to reduce health inequities.
    Adopting an implementation science approach to studying interventions for management of multiple long-term conditions in the context of NCDs, researchers, clinicians and authorities have an improved understanding how the proposed interventions could be adopted in LMICs and/or disadvantaged populations of HICs setting, taking into account specific social, political, economic and cultural contexts.
  • Communities and local stakeholders and authorities are fully engaged in implementing and taking up interventions for management of multiple long-term conditions in the context of NCDs and thus contribute to deliver better health.

Scope

The European Commission is a member of the Global Alliance for Chronic Diseases (GACD)[1], an alliance of international funding agencies representing over 80% of the world’s public health research funding and the first collaboration of its kind to specifically address NCDs. The GACD supports implementation science to improve health outcomes. This topic is launched in concertation with the other GACD members and aligned with the 9th GACD call.

The topic is focused on implementation research for management of multiple long-term conditions in the context of NCDs (MLTC NCD) in LMICs and/or disadvantaged populations in HICs. Proposals should focus on implementation science around interventions that will generate evidence about when, for whom, and under what circumstances, patient-centred approaches can improve integrated care for patients with MLTC NCD.

MLTC NCD refers to the co-occurrence of multiple chronic conditions, at least one of which is an NCD. NCDs include for example cardiovascular diseases, chronic respiratory diseases, cancers, musculoskeletal disorders, diabetes, hypertension, haematological disorders, sleep disorders, and mental health disorders. The high prevalence of MLTC NCD is projected to rise with the ageing population and the increasing burden of NCDs. MLTC NCD has a profound impact on patients, and is associated with premature death, physical disability, substance abuse, poor quality of life, mental health issues, and financial difficulties from high costs of care. It is also associated with difficulties in adherence to and high rates of adverse effects from treatment with multiple medications. In addition, due to poor health and the complexity of managing their conditions, patients with MLTC NCD are high utilisers of health care systems, which is especially challenging in low-resourced contexts.

Read more about this opportunity here.