Division 1 THE CHALLENGE

Health, demographic change and well-being have been identified as major societal challenges which will be addressed within the framework of Horizon 2020. The overarching aims of any action to address this challenge should be to improve the quality of life of European citizens of all ages and to maintain economic sustainability of the health and social care systems in the face of increasing costs, shrinking human resources and citizens' expectations for the best care possible.

The challenges relating to the health and social care sectors are numerous and closely interlinked. They range from chronic diseases (cardiovascular, cancer, diabetes) together with overweight and obesity, infectious (HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis) and neurodegenerative diseases (exacerbated by an increasingly ageing population), to social isolation, reduced wellbeing, increased dependency of patients on formal and informal care, and multiple exposure to environmental factors with unknown long-term health consequences. In addition, barriers to the application, exploitation and deployment of new findings, products and services prevent effective responses to those challenges.

The response to these challenges has been defined in Horizon 2020 as aiming "to provide better health, quality of life and general wellbeing for all by supporting research and innovation activities. These activities will focus on the maintenance and promotion of health throughout our lifetimes, and on disease prevention; on improving our ability to cure, treat and manage disease and disability; supporting active ageing; and on contributing to the achievement of a sustainable and efficient care sector, including local and regional services and the adaptation of cities and their facilities for an ageing population."