Funding programme

Horizon Europe is the EU’s key funding programme for research and innovation. Read more about the Horizon Europe programme here.

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Call overview

This call aims to support evidence-based interventions that promote healthy behaviours.

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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 most 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 vulnerable populations have access to and use specific guidelines to implement health interventions that decrease risk factors of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) associated with city^[1] environments.
• Public health managers and authorities have access to improved insights and evidence on the NCDs caused or impacted by city environments and which factors influence the implementation of preventive actions that address risk behaviours in concerned city populations. They use this knowledge to design improved city planning policies to diminish health associated risks.
• Adopting an implementation science approach to studying interventions in different city contexts, researchers, clinicians and authorities have an improved understanding how specific interventions can be better adapted to different city environments and how the interventions could be scaled within and across cities taking into account specific social, political, economic and cultural contexts.
• Public health managers and authorities use evidence-based strategies and tools for promoting population health in equitable and environmentally sustainable ways, enabling cities to better address the challenges of rapid urbanisation, growing social inequalities, and climate change.
• Communities, local stakeholders and authorities are fully engaged in implementing and taking up individual and/or structural level interventions and thus contribute to deliver better health.

Scope

The European Commission is a member of the Global Alliance for Chronic Diseases (GACD)^[2]. This topic is launched in concertation with the other GACD members and aligned with the 8^th GACD call.

The topic is focused on implementation research with the potential to reduce the risks of NCDs in cities in LMICs and/or vulnerable populations in HICs. Proposals should focus on implementation science around evidence-based interventions that promote healthy behaviours, and that have the potential to profoundly reduce the risk of chronic diseases and multi-morbidity.

Non-communicable diseases, such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, neurological diseases, respiratory diseases, certain cancers, and mental health disorders, are the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in both LMICs and HICs^[3]. The COVID-19 pandemic has brought these chronic diseases further into the spotlight, as the majority of those who have experienced severe illness and/or death have had one or more underlying NCD. Reducing the burden of NCDs is therefore critical to building more resilient, equitable, and healthier societies.

Air, water, and soil pollution; lack of greenspace; urban heat islands; lack of safe infrastructure for walking, cycling, and active living; and wide availability of tobacco, alcohol, and unhealthy foods and beverages drive the NCD epidemic in city environments^[4]. More than half of the world’s population currently live in cities and this number is projected to rise to 68% by 2050. There is an urgent need to equip local authorities and policymakers with strategies for maximising the health-promoting potential of cities, while minimising or reversing environmental degradation and health inequities.

Cities provide tremendous social, cultural, and economic opportunity, and have the potential to become engines of good health and support climate change adaptation^[5]. Innovative health-focused programmes, policies, and infrastructure, such as public smoking bans, bikeable streets, greenspace, and vehicle emission laws, can shape the behaviours of millions of people and decrease exposure to environmental contaminants. Applicants to the current call are invited to conduct implementation research that leads to improved understanding of how specific interventions can be better adapted to different city environments and/or scaled within and across cities, taking into account unique local social, political, economic, and cultural contexts.

The proposed implementation research must be focus on addressing NCD risk factors associated with city environments and related health inequities. In all cases, the selected study population(s) must live in cities, which may include informal settlements near urban centres, peri-urban environments, and city centres. The study population may include people with existing NCDs, those without existing NCDs, or a combination of both. Applicants are encouraged to take a life course approach, adapting the intervention to one or more key life stage(s) critical for reducing lifelong NCD risk.

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Activities

Proposals should address all of the following activities

• Select one or more city/ies in which the research will be conducted. Applicants must justify why a particular context is considered a city.
• Select one or more evidence-based interventions known to reduce NCD risk factor(s) associated with city environments. Applicants should justify the choice of intervention(s) and provide evidence of the intervention’s effectiveness, acceptability, feasibility, and potential for long-term health and other impacts. Applicants may also wish to consider implementation research focusing on the WHO Best Buys, though this is not a requirement.
• Adapt these intervention(s) for selected study population(s) based in one or more city/ies, taking into account the unique social, political, economic, and cultural context(s). Applicants should justify why these adaptations will not compromise the known effectiveness of the selected intervention(s).
• Provide a research plan for investigating how to promote the uptake and/or scale-up of the intervention(s) in the selected study population(s), using validated implementation research frameworks.
• Specifically address issues of equitable implementation to ensure interventions reach the populations that need them the most.
• Have an appropriate strategy for measuring both implementation research outcomes and real-world effectiveness outcomes and indicators (related to NCD prevention and, if feasible, planetary health and/or non-health sectors).
• Demonstrate a commitment to stakeholder engagement.
• Demonstrate a commitment to planetary health in that the proposed intervention, implementation strategies and research practices minimise the consortium’s ecological footprint.
• Provide a sustainability plan or describe a pathway to sustain the proposed intervention after the funding ends.

The proposed interventions of focus may fall under one or both of the following themes:

• Theme 1: Behavioural change interventions
• Theme 2: Interventions that focus on modifying the built environment^[6]

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Eligibility

To be eligible for funding, applicants must be established in one of the following countries:

• the Member States of the European Union, including their outermost regions;
• the Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs) linked to the Member States;
• countries associated to Horizon Europe;
• low- and middle-income countries

See the full list in the General Annexes.

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Consortium composition

Unless otherwise provided for in the specific call conditions, only legal entities forming a consortium are eligible to participate in actions provided that the consortium includes, as beneficiaries, three legal entities independent from each other and each established in a different country as follows:

• at least one independent legal entity established in a Member State; and
• at least two other independent legal entities, each established in different Member States or Associated Countries.

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Budget

The total indicative budget for the topic is EUR 20.00 million.

The Commission estimates that an EU contribution of between EUR 3.00 and 4.00 million would allow these outcomes to be addressed appropriately.