Policy Updates

On June 13, 2024, in her speech at the first-ever G7 session focused on Africa, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen highlighted the potential of the African continent and the evolution of its relationship with the G7 from one of ODA to that of equal partners.

Von der Leyen highlighted the need to improve the G7's offerings compared to China, Russia, and the Middle East, emphasizing the importance of long-term, sustainable investments that create jobs in Africa. She stressed that the G7 has already demonstrated its commitment to Africa during the pandemic, citing EU support for establishing mRNA vaccine production facilities in Rwanda and Senegal. In addition, von der Leyen noted that the G7 has committed US$250 billion through the PGII, of which US$33 billion has already been delivered to North and Sub-Saharan Africa.

A breakdown of the full amounts and whether the referenced commitments are new or additional funding is not publically available.

On November 14, 2022, the European Parliament and the Council of the EU reached a deal on the EU budget for 2023 with €12.3 billion (US$12.7 billion) slated for the Neighborhood, Development, and International Cooperation Instrument (NDICI) - Global Europe, a 0.7% decrease from 2022.\
The budget for 2023 totals €186.6 billion (US$192.7 billion). The amount is €1 billion (US$1 billion) above the European Commission’s draft proposal due to negotiation by the Parliament. Budget lines include:

• €17.2 billion (US$17.8 billion) for external action under heading 6, ‘Neighborhood and the World’, including €12.3 billion (US$12.3 billion) for NDICI-Global Europe and €1.8 billion (US$1.8 billion) for humanitarian assistance. These programs received increases from the Commission’s draft proposal to enable additional support to Ukraine and Moldova;
• €12.4 billion (US$12.8 billion) for Horizon Europe, the EU’s research and innovation program; this includes an additional €10 million (US$10 million) for energy and climate research compared to the Commission’s draft proposal. The line increased 1.3% from 2022; and
• €739 million (US$763 billion) for EU4Health, the dedicated health program for the EU.

The deal is expected to be ratified by both the Parliament and Council by the end of November, with a plenary vote in Parliament. The deal only needs a qualified majority in the Council and is also expected to pass there.

The UK government launched formal consultations with the EU to dispute the EU's move to block UK access to EU research and development (R&D) programs.
The UK argues that by delaying the UK’s access to Horizon Europe, the EU research program, the EU is in breach of the Brexit deal, the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement. The European Commission has paused progress on a UK association agreement to Horizon Europe because it says the UK has not been complying with the Northern Ireland protocol within the Brexit agreement.
The delay has meant the UK has not been allowed to participate in Horizon Europe programs like the Global Health European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP3) or Copernicus, the earth observation program that helps monitor climate change.
News article - Bloomberg
Press release - FCDO

The EU’s partnership for funding global health research and research capacity building in 'sub-Saharan Africa', the European Clinical Trials Partnership (EDCTP), has published its annual report for 2021.
According to the annual report, EDCTP’s grants portfolio totaled €814 million (US$860 million) for 435 projects in 2021, including 140 collaborative clinical research projects, 90 capacity development projects, and 205 fellowships. EDCTP also launched a Global TB Vaccine Research & Development (R&D) Roadmap to help coordinate global efforts on developing tuberculosis vaccines.
Report - EDCTP

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced a new partnership with Latin America and the Caribbean to build capacity for local manufacturing of vaccines, medicines, and other health technologies, and to strengthen health systems during the European Development Days in Brussels. 

As part of the EU’s Global Gateway Strategy, the new partnership will support ongoing plans in the region to build self-sufficiency in health through private sector engagement, providing catalytic finance, technology transfer, research and innovation, and building regulatory capacity.

Press release - European Commission

Factsheet - European Commission

At an event in Paris, the European Commission launched the Global Health European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership Joint Undertaking (GH EDCTP3 JU) with a €1.6 billion (US$1.7 billion) budget for the next ten years to fund clinical research on infectious diseases impacting countries in sub-Saharan Africa.

The GH EDCTP3 JU is a partnership under the EU’s Horizon Europe research program. It is the largest Africa-Europe partnership on research and development (R&D) to date. It will focus on poverty-related diseases such as HIV & AIDS, tuberculosis (TB), malaria, and neglected tropical diseases (PRNDs).

Its predecessor, EDCTP2, was a partnership only between participating EU member states and sub-Saharan African governments, whereas EDCTP3 is also open to participation from industry and philanthropies. Its overall budget includes contributions from the European Commission as well as participating countries and private sector entities.

Blog post - DSW

Website - European Commission

Stakeholders participating in a roundtable hosted by the publication Science|Business called for the new African Union (AU)-EU Innovation Agenda to strengthen the African research and innovation (R&I) ecosystem until it is on a level playing field with Europe’s and suggested that EU-AU research cooperation should be driven by opportunity, not foreign assistance.

Participants suggested during the March 29, 2022, meeting in Brussels that the EU should provide funding for researchers at the PhD level and above in AU countries and improve research infrastructures. A joint study exchange program for PhD students across Europe and Africa could enable knowledge exchange and create a research network. Creating a database of African research could facilitate data sharing between European and African research teams as well.

The AU-EU Innovation Agenda will target cooperation around health, the green transition, and enhancing R&I capacities. Public consultation on the agenda is open until May 13, 2022.

News article - Science|Business

The European Parliament adopted a resolution on the European Commission’s May 2021 Communication on its Global Approach to Research and Innovation (R&I) that calls for strengthening EU cooperation with lower- and middle-income countries on R&I in areas such as climate change, health, and epidemic preparedness, as well as better integrating the gender dimension in R&I.

The resolution highlights the need to promote gender equality in R&I implementation and content and urges the EU to seek synergies between its R&I cooperation and the EU’s external action programs.

Resolution - European Parliament

Strategy - European Commission

South Africa, India, the United States, and the EU have reached a potential compromise on a waiver for some intellectual property restrictions on COVID-19 vaccines, which was met with mixed reactions. The deal would allow all countries that exported less than 10% of the world’s vaccines in 2021 to waive multiple patents for COVID-19 vaccines.

Some have lauded the breakthrough in negotiations but critics have said the deal is too narrow as it doesn’t cover all COVID-19 medical technologies, nor does it include a waiver beyond patents (such as for industrial designs, copyrights, and trade secrets), as was initially proposed by South Africa and India in October of 2020.

The deal, which focuses only on vaccines, would require the support of all members of the World Trade Organization for it to be formally adopted. Potential deals on diagnostics and therapeutics will be decided within six months.

News article - Devex

Leaked draft work programs for Horizon Europe, the EU’s research program, for 2023-2024 include a strong focus on pandemic preparedness for the program’s health cluster.

The program includes calls for proposals related to the new European Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (HERA), including medical devices, protective equipment, diagnostics devices, understanding vaccine induced-immunity, and viruses with epidemic potential.

The five themes for the health cluster include:

1. Staying healthy in a rapidly changing society (includes topics on aging, non-communicable diseases, mental health, and children and adolescent health);
2. Living and working in a health-promoting environment (includes the impact of climate change and environmental pollution);
3. Tackling disease and reducing disease burden (includes non-communicable diseases, pandemic preparedness, rare diseases, and antimicrobial resistance, as well as HERA-specific topics);
4. Ensuring access to innovative, sustainable, and high-quality health care (includes access to care, health care workforce, environmentally sustainable health care systems); and
5. Unlocking the full potential of new tools, technologies, and digital solutions for a healthy society (includes data, modeling and simulations, bio-printing, and digital health technologies).

The work program includes an action to provide a grant awarded without a call for proposals to the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Initiative (CEPI) although it does not mention the award amount.

Another action will allow the mobilization of research funds to respond in the event of a public health emergency. The grants will be awarded without a call for proposals should circumstances call for it.

News article - Science|Business