Strengthening Health Systems

Call Focus

Implementation research addressing strategies for strengthening of health systems to improve equity in high quality care and health outcomes and reduce the prevalence and impact of NCDs in low- and middle-income countries and/or in underserved populations experiencing health disparities such as Indigenous populations, in high-income countries.

Challenge

Chronic non-communicable diseases (NCDs) have become the leading cause of mortality, morbidity and disability globally. They have a significant detrimental impact both on the lives of the affected individual as well as their families and societies and undermine any ambition for a nation’s economic growth. According to the latest Global Burden of Disease and Injury analysis, the sustained high burden of NCDs suggests that prevention and management together with health system strengthening will continue to be crucial policy priorities in the years to come.

Health systems in many countries have not kept pace with the rapid emergence of NCDs, that require costly long-term care and treatment. Resilient, fit for purpose, health systems have an important role to play in the fight against NCDs. The increasing burden of NCDs on healthcare systems has spurred a greater interest in exploring strategies to tackle these conditions including a move from a healthcare system focussed on disease and hospital-based care, to a more holistic model, involving communities and primary care, and aiming to maintain health. The WHO has produced a series of recommendations for strengthening health systems, to improve capacity and services to tackle NCDs, with an eye to understanding how the service improvement will be scaled up system-wide. These include interventions addressing the integration of and access to care, screening, access to medicines and technologies, task shifting and digital health interventions.

Applicants to the current funding call are therefore invited to propose appropriately designed and targeted implementation research to support health system transformation and/or strengthening using evidence-based interventions that can be adapted to, and implemented in, LMICs and populations experiencing health disparities to encourage equitable health outcomes and decrease the burden of NCDs.

Funders

Agencies running parallel calls

• The EU Horizon programme was a single-stage call, opening on the 22 May 2025 with a deadline of 16 September 2025 17:00:00 Brussels time and applications could be made through the EC funding and tenders portal. An info day for Horizon Europe Cluster 1 calls was held on the 22 May 2025 and recordings of the Horizon info day are available to watch.

• The US National Institutes of Health — We expect the NIH GACD Systems call to be announced in 2026.

Joint Application Process

• Australia – National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC)
  Please see the NHMRC agency specific information and the NHMRC website for more details.

• India – Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR)
  ICMR requires joint funding with NHMRC/HSRI. Applicants for joint funding can request up to INR 20,000,000 (~220,000 USD) per project. ICMR expect to jointly fund up to 3 projects under this call. Please see the ICMR agency specific information for more details.

• South Africa – South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC)
  SAMRC requires joint funding with NHMRC. Applicants to SAMRC can request up to 70,000 AUD (~45,000 USD) per year, for a maximum of five years. SAMRC expect to jointly fund up to 2 projects under this call. Please see the SAMRC agency specific information for more details.

• Thailand – Health Systems Research Institute (HSRI)
  HSRI requires joint funding with NHMRC/ICMR. HSRI have a total budget of 10,200,000 THB (~300,000 USD). HSRI expect to jointly fund up to 2 projects under this call. Please see the HSRI agency specific information for more details.

• Brazil – São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP)
  FAPESP will offer 1.5M USD to fund 3 projects under this call- joint funding is encouraged. Please note applicants MUST perform an eligibility check with FAPESP. Please see the FAPESP Agency specific information for more details. Applications to FAPESP must also be submitted through the SAGe System.

How to apply – Joint Application Process

GACD uses a a two-step application process. Successful applicants have been invited to submit a second stage proposal.

Key documents and resources

• Strengthening health systems call text

• Specific considerations for GACD applications

Applicant briefing Webinar

• The slide set from the briefing is available here

• A set of FAQs developed after the briefing are available here

• Watch the recording of Sitting A here

• Watch the recording of Sitting B here

Applicants applying for joint funding from two or more funding agencies will only need to submit one application. All applications must be submitted in English. The deadline for second stage applications was the 22 October 2025 (16:00 UTC)

Key dates

• First stage proposal deadline: 16 June 2025 (18:00 CET)

• First Stage proposal outcomes: 10 September 2025

• Second stage proposal deadline: 22 October 2025 (18:00 CET)

• Awards: January-April 2026

Questions and Queries

You can contact funding@gacd.org with any questions about this funding call. You can subscribe to our mailing list to receive updates about this and other GACD funding calls.