Periodic Reporting for period 2 - GACD3 (Global Alliance for Chronic Diseases Secretariat)
Berichtszeitraum: 2024-01-01 bis 2025-06-30
Chronic Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) kill 41 million people each year, with over three quarters of deaths occurring in low- and middle-income countries. The Global Alliance for Chronic Diseases GACD remains the only alliance of international research funding agencies that specifically seek to address the growing burden ofNCDs in low- and -middle-income countries (LMICs) and in underserved populations experiencing health disparity such as Indigenous Populations in high-income countries (HICs). Through coordinated activities the GACD’s mission is to reduce the burden of chronic NCDs in LMICs and in populations facing conditions of vulnerability in high-income countries, by building evidence to inform national and international NCD policies and contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals under section 3.42.
As an alliance, the funding agencies within GACD have agreed objectives as set out in the GACD Strategic Plan 2019-2024, namely to :-
• Invest in impactful NCD research;
• Build implementation science capacity and capability in relation to NCDs;
• Facilitate collaborations and partnerships to support GACD investment and impact.
A dedicated GACD staff team (secretariat) work to co-ordinate, support and deliver on these strategic objectives and facilitate maximum impact from GACD activities.
As an alliance, the funding agencies within GACD have agreed objectives as set out in the GACD Strategic Plan 2019-2024, namely to :-
• Invest in impactful NCD research;
• Build implementation science capacity and capability in relation to NCDs;
• Facilitate collaborations and partnerships to support GACD investment and impact.
A dedicated GACD staff team (secretariat) work to co-ordinate, support and deliver on these strategic objectives and facilitate maximum impact from GACD activities.
Delivering on its ambition to support high quality implementation research, during the period from July 2022 to June 2025 GACD has coordinated and facilitated annual joint calls for implementation research studies. This has included the following achievements:-
Investment in Research
- During 2022 the seventh call for applications within GACD on implementation research to reduce the NCD burden by targeting critical life stages was completed. 30 awards were funded across all participating agencies at a total commitment level of US$62m with 2 co-funded proposals. .
-During 2023 GACD managed its 8th joint call on Implementation research for NCD Prevention in Cities. The members of the GACD agreed a common call text which is available for download on our website. 20 projects were supported as the GACD Healthy Cities research programme at a total commitment of $49mUS$.
- During 2024 the GACD 9th joint call for research around Implementation research for management of multiple longterm conditions was managed. The common call text was agreed and published for and progressed with by nine participating funding agencies. At the time of this CSA grant end in June 2025 a number of awards have been agreed by some participating agencies. Other funders are working to a longer timeline and further awards will be announced after this grant completion date. Descriptions of all projects can be found on our website
Research Capacity Strengthening
The GACD secretariat have co-ordinated, facilitated and supported the development and curation of an online resource hub – GACD Implementation Science e-Hub, and a mix of virtual and live training events. These activities are intended to increase the skills, knowledge, and confidence of individuals to conduct high-quality implementation research, engage with relevant stakeholders and to develop further international collaboration.
- The GACD e-Hub now attracts more than 14000 users.
- During 2022-25 a total of 116 trainees of which 66% were women, and typically representing diverse nationalities the greatest majority of whom are from LMIC. 33 trainees participated at the 2024/25 Masterclass in Scale Up in Implementation
Collaboration and Partnership for Impact
Collaboration and partnership is fundamental to GACD enabling greater global reach, international collaboration, collective contribution to impact and through shared knowledge, experience and expertise where collaborative activities add value and ensure sustainability. GACD have fostered collaboration with new funding partners, civil society advocacy organisations, multilaterals such the World Health Organisation to increase the recognition of new evidence generated and to promote the likelihood that this will be taken up in policy.
Investment in Research
- During 2022 the seventh call for applications within GACD on implementation research to reduce the NCD burden by targeting critical life stages was completed. 30 awards were funded across all participating agencies at a total commitment level of US$62m with 2 co-funded proposals. .
-During 2023 GACD managed its 8th joint call on Implementation research for NCD Prevention in Cities. The members of the GACD agreed a common call text which is available for download on our website. 20 projects were supported as the GACD Healthy Cities research programme at a total commitment of $49mUS$.
- During 2024 the GACD 9th joint call for research around Implementation research for management of multiple longterm conditions was managed. The common call text was agreed and published for and progressed with by nine participating funding agencies. At the time of this CSA grant end in June 2025 a number of awards have been agreed by some participating agencies. Other funders are working to a longer timeline and further awards will be announced after this grant completion date. Descriptions of all projects can be found on our website
Research Capacity Strengthening
The GACD secretariat have co-ordinated, facilitated and supported the development and curation of an online resource hub – GACD Implementation Science e-Hub, and a mix of virtual and live training events. These activities are intended to increase the skills, knowledge, and confidence of individuals to conduct high-quality implementation research, engage with relevant stakeholders and to develop further international collaboration.
- The GACD e-Hub now attracts more than 14000 users.
- During 2022-25 a total of 116 trainees of which 66% were women, and typically representing diverse nationalities the greatest majority of whom are from LMIC. 33 trainees participated at the 2024/25 Masterclass in Scale Up in Implementation
Collaboration and Partnership for Impact
Collaboration and partnership is fundamental to GACD enabling greater global reach, international collaboration, collective contribution to impact and through shared knowledge, experience and expertise where collaborative activities add value and ensure sustainability. GACD have fostered collaboration with new funding partners, civil society advocacy organisations, multilaterals such the World Health Organisation to increase the recognition of new evidence generated and to promote the likelihood that this will be taken up in policy.
During the timeframe of this award the secretariat have
-coordinated and facilitated 4 research funding calls awarding within which funders have supported 50 new projects at a total investment of more than $114m USD to date. These new investments in research have substantially increased the GACD portfolio of implementation research undertaken globally.
- attracted a new funding partner to participate in the Lifecourse call expanding its potential for international collaboration amongst researchers and broadening its reach.
-supported 116 early career researchers in the fundamentals of implementation science for NCDs in our Implementation Science Schools, 33 mid career investigators on critical aspects of research to enable scaling up implementation and have supported many other international investigators in building their capabilities to undertake innovative high quality research.
Beyond the individual projects supported to undertake high quality implementation research most likely to inform policy and practice the GACD Research Network provides the opportunities for communities of researchers to converge around cross thematic topics , in GACD working groups. These offer further important outputs in terms of novel publications and investigator resources. Details of our working group s and special interest groups can be found on the GACD website. GACD continue to learn from the knowledge generated and the practices and processes that increase the likelihood that research outputs will be relevant, sustainable and be able to be used and adopted more readily by policy makers. These learnings are incorporated into additional guidance and resources for researchers.
-coordinated and facilitated 4 research funding calls awarding within which funders have supported 50 new projects at a total investment of more than $114m USD to date. These new investments in research have substantially increased the GACD portfolio of implementation research undertaken globally.
- attracted a new funding partner to participate in the Lifecourse call expanding its potential for international collaboration amongst researchers and broadening its reach.
-supported 116 early career researchers in the fundamentals of implementation science for NCDs in our Implementation Science Schools, 33 mid career investigators on critical aspects of research to enable scaling up implementation and have supported many other international investigators in building their capabilities to undertake innovative high quality research.
Beyond the individual projects supported to undertake high quality implementation research most likely to inform policy and practice the GACD Research Network provides the opportunities for communities of researchers to converge around cross thematic topics , in GACD working groups. These offer further important outputs in terms of novel publications and investigator resources. Details of our working group s and special interest groups can be found on the GACD website. GACD continue to learn from the knowledge generated and the practices and processes that increase the likelihood that research outputs will be relevant, sustainable and be able to be used and adopted more readily by policy makers. These learnings are incorporated into additional guidance and resources for researchers.