The year 2015 was the first full year of EDCTP2, which was launched on 2 December 2014 and is being implemented by the EDCTP Association. In 2015, the Association registered 14 African and 14 European countries as members, the so-called Participating States. With this paradigm shift, we see European and African countries jointly taking responsibility in the governance of the programme. The European Union (EU) has also maintained its commitment to EDCTP and supports the programme under its Framework Programme for Research and Innovation, Horizon 2020.

EDCTP2 has an expanded scope. Many neglected infectious diseases, lower respiratory tract infections, diarrhoeal diseases, and emerging infections such as Ebola and yellow fever were added to the programme.

EDCTP activities are of two kinds: the projects supported by the EU and implemented by EDCTP, and secondly, activities initiated by the Participating States (PSIAs). These are research activities within the scope of the EDCTP programme that are supported with national funding and independently executed by Participating States. The PSIAs are important as they directly contribute to achieving the EDCTP objectives. The disbursements for PSIAs also count as basis for the EU funding of EDCTP. In 2014 and 2015, European Participating States already disbursed an impressive 31% of the €683M pledged to the EDCTP programme.

In 2015, a total of 11 EDCTP calls for proposals were ongoing: 3 calls of the 2014 work plan and 8 calls of the 2015 work plan. We succeeded in completing the full process for four calls for proposals: the calls from the 2014 work plan and the 2015 call ’Research capacity development in support of the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) response’. This last call was part of the European response to the Ebola crisis in West Africa.

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For more information or media questions, please contact EDCTP Communications via media[at]edctp.org or by telephone +31 (0)70 344 0885.