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Research and innovation

Chronic diseases

EU research on chronic diseases

Chronic conditions and diseases are major causes of disability, ill-health, health-related retirement and premature death, and present considerable social and economic costs. 

In the list of priority diseases quoted in the Priority Medicines for Europe and the World Update Report, 2013, out of 24 diseases, six belong to this area, namely

  • osteoarthritis
  • chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
  • chronic liver disease
  • tobacco-related diseases
  • hearing loss
  • low back pain.

In justifying the selection of these particular diseases as priority targets, WHO pointed out that their a) treatment does not exist or the existing treatment(s) is insufficiently effective, and b) these are diseases where basic research is needed to establish biomarkers.

Horizon 2020  does not specify chronic diseases as an area. This because the disease-centred approach has been abandoned in the work programmes in favour of more strategic, cross-cutting, horizontal and bottom-up calls. Diseases covered by this area attract substantial funding and represent a significant portfolio in the health research.

Funding opportunities

Horizon Europe

Funding for health under the research and innovation framework programme, Horizon Europe.

Projects and results

EU-funded projects (CORDIS)

Projects in the field of chronic diseases on the Commission's primary portal for results of EU-funded research projects.

Horizon Results Platform

Platform where framework programme funding recipients present their results to search, contact their owners and form partnerships.

Collaboration and jobs

Find project partners

Look for project partners and view profiles of all organisations that have received funding via the funding and tender opportunities portal.

Scientific publications, tools and databases

Horizon 2020 dashboard

Interactive reporting platform, composed of a set of sheets that allows series of views to discover and filter Horizon 2020 data.

EU Open Data Portal

Single point of access to open data produced by the EU institutions. All data free to use for commercial and non-commercial purposes.

OpenAIRE

You can access all scientific publications from Horizon 2020 via OpenAIRE.