Deadline: 29-Jun-23
The European Commission (EC) is accepting proposals for Research to rapidly evaluate interventions on Ebola outbreaks in sub-Saharan Africa.
Scope
- Proposals submitted under this call topic are expected to advance knowledge on Ebola virus disease with the aim of contributing to an efficient patient management and public health response, as well as better epidemic preparedness in Africa. Special focus should be on improving their understanding of the Sudan virus disease, in view of the recent outbreak in East Africa and the lack of available interventions for this viral strain. There are currently no licensed vaccines or therapeutics for the prevention and treatment of Sudan virus disease.
- Ebola is a severe disease, with high mortality risk, first identified in 1976 when two simultaneous outbreaks occurred in South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Ebola viruses are primarily transmitted to humans through close contact with blood, secretions, organs, or other bodily fluids of infected humans or animals, and contaminated surfaces and materials. Infected people generally present with fever, fatigue, muscle pain, headache, and sore throat, followed by vomiting, diarrhoea, rash, and/or symptoms of impaired kidney and liver function. The average Ebola case fatality rate is estimated around 50% with rates varying from 25% to 90% in past outbreaks. Ebola outbreaks have most commonly been caused by the Zaire and Sudan Ebola virus.
- The scope of the proposals submitted under this call topic should include one or more of the following areas:
- Clinical development of therapeutics. This can include early phase testing of candidates for safety, validation of standardised animal models that adequately recapitulate the clinical hallmarks of human infection and illness to enable acceleration of regulatory pathways for vaccines and therapeutics, or platform trial designs or networks that can be pivoted to outbreaks where they occur. Best practices for the use and deployment of intervention tools, including storage and transport should be considered.
- Clinical development of point-of-care (POC) diagnostics, ensuring rapid evaluation of POC tools based on existing technologies to allow for fast case detection and better surveillance. It should be possible that the developed diagnostic tools can easily be taken up by health care systems and health care centres, also in rural settings.
- Social sciences research to improve risk communication activities, provide responses to social dynamics of Ebola virus outbreaks and increase acceptance of the public health response and medical countermeasures.
Funding Information
- The check will normally be done for the coordinator if the requested grant amount is equal to or greater than EUR 500 000, except for:
- public bodies (entities established as a public body under national law, including local, regional or national authorities) or international organisations; and
- cases where the individual requested grant amount is not more than EUR 60 000 (lowvalue grant).
Expected Outcome
- This topic aims at supporting activities that are contributing to one or several of the expected impacts for this call. To that end, proposals submitted under this topic should aim at delivering results that are contributing to some of the following expected outcomes:
- An increased portfolio of therapeutics and diagnostic tools are available to researchers to move along the clinical development phases to combat Ebola disease;
- An improved surveillance system to rapidly detect novel Ebola virus outbreaks in Africa;
- A better understanding of the social dynamics within communities affected by Ebola virus outbreaks and a better awareness from these communities when it comes to the implementation of public health measures such as social restrictions and/or medical interventions;
Eligibility Criteria
- To become a beneficiary, legal entities must be eligible for funding.
- 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;
- the following low- and middle-income countries.
For more information, visit EC.