AZV projects will enable direct funding of patient organisations

The Ministry of Health (MoH) / Agency for Health ResearchAZV) ČR now allows direct funding of patient organisations under certain conditions.

Patients' organisations play an indispensable role in the Czech healthcare system - they help patients and their families, represent their interests when dealing with authorities, insurance companies and healthcare providers, and contribute to greater transparency and accessibility of healthcare services.

However, in order to be able to draw national funding directly from calls for proposals under the European Partnerships for Health or from public competitions of the Ministry of Health ČRAZV ČRČR, patient organisations must meet several conditions. First of all, they must:

• Demonstrated an active role in the project's research activities;
• the research project was clearly defined and met the conditions set out in the specific call;
• had research activities defined in their founding documents as the subject of their activities; 
• the support was granted to cover the costs associated with the implementation of the research project, not for the operation of the patient organisation;
• the research activities of the patient organisation have not been outsourced to external bodies in the form of contract research.

Patient organisations can thus be involved, for example, in patient surveys, the management of patient registers, or collaboration with academic institutions and hospitals on projects focusing on quality of life and the impact of disease.

More information can be found in the document available here.