Global Health & WASH: January 2026 Funding Opportunities (17 new opportunities!)
52 Black maternal health in UK, LGBTQ+ inclusion in Malaysia, pediatric HIV in Africa, personalized cancer data, and climate-resilient diagnostic tools.
Global health in early 2026 is navigating a fascinating "double-helix" of priorities: one strand focused on hyper-local equity and the other on high-stakes pandemic preparedness. This month, we’re seeing a significant push for anti-racist maternal health initiatives in the UK and LGBTQ+ healthcare in Malaysia, running parallel to massive investments from ARIA and CEPI into "Disease X" and innate immunity. There is also a distinct trend toward climate-resilient health products—recognizing that medicines and diagnostics are useless if they can't survive the rising heat in the Global South. Whether you are a grassroots collective in the Caribbean or a biotech consortium in Helsinki, the 2026 mandate is clear: health systems must be as inclusive as they are technologically advanced.
Snapshot of New Opportunities
This month features a heavy concentration of funding in translational medicine and community-led equity models.
Total Estimated Funding Pool: $125 Million+ USD
The grants are organized into three categories:
Open Calls: Current grant and opportunities with a deadline. Grants are listed by closing date. 27 open opportunities- 16 new!
Rolling Applications: current grant and opportunities with rolling applications (but it’s still best to submit as early as possible). 11 rolling opportunities- 1 new!
Long term planning: Grants that have closed their current rounds, but are expected to open new windows. 4 long term opportunities!
A quick tip for returning readers: if you want to jump straight to the newest additions, use CTRL F to search for “New!” and navigate quickly to the latest funding opportunities
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Open Calls:
Reducing Inequalities in Black Maternal Health Grants, JRNY Consulting (on behalf of Impact on Urban Health & NHS South East London). *New!* *Closing soon!*
Inviting applications from community‑led initiatives that improve maternal and neonatal health outcomes for Black mothers, birthing people, and their families across South East London. This call emphasizes anti‑racist, trauma‑informed approaches and community co‑design rooted in lived experiences. Applicants are invited to respond to co‑developed solution areas that emerged from participatory workshops and expert guidance. Grants may support multi‑year work (up to three years) focusing on service innovation, community outreach, workforce development, and systemic change within local maternity and neonatal care ecosystems.
Geographies: South East London, United Kingdom.
Who can apply: Voluntary, community and social enterprise (VCSE) organizations or community interest companies (CICs) based in or serving South East London; partnerships or consortia are eligible if led by a community organization.
Funding amount: £1.5 million total; individual awards may vary (indicative max ~£400k for single org, ~£600k for consortia).
Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Public Health; Focus areas: Black maternal health, anti‑racism, trauma‑informed care, service innovation.
Deadline: January 10, 2026 (10:00 AM).
This initiative aims to disrupt health inequities by empowering community‑rooted actors to lead solutions that center Black voices and strengthen care systems in South East London.
RITC2026 – Responsible Implementation of Individualized Cancer Management Using Multi-Modal Data, ERA PerMed (EP PerMed). *Closing soon!*
EP PerMed’s 2026 call invites transnational research proposals that apply personalized medicine approaches to oncology using integrated, multi-modal data: from genomics to digital biomarkers. Projects must be implementation-focused and demonstrate both interdisciplinary collaboration and potential clinical impact. This is a two-stage process open to consortia spanning at least three of the 25 participating countries or regions.
Geographies: Austria, Belgium (Flanders & Wallonia), Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal (Centro), Romania, Slovak Republic, South Africa, Spain (Andalusia & Navarre), Sweden, Türkiye.
Who can apply: Consortia of 3–6 partners from at least 3 eligible countries; eligibility governed by national funders.
Funding amount: Typically €300,000–€1.5M per project (exact amount depends on funder).
Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Primary Sector: Scientific Research; Focus areas: personalized medicine, multimodal oncology data, translational implementation.
Deadline: Pre-proposals: January 12, 2026; Full proposals: April 27, 2026.
Learn more and apply here.
This call pushes the frontier of data-integrated, patient-specific oncology care from theory into practice.
Senior Program Coordinator – Maternal and Newborn Health Program (Malawi), CDC Foundation. *Closing soon!*
The CDC Foundation is hiring a Malawi-based Senior Program Coordinator to lead implementation and coordination for a new maternal and newborn health initiative. The role will support government partners and local implementers across targeted districts, focusing on improving access to quality childbirth services and emergency obstetric and newborn care. Responsibilities include strategy coordination, oversight of implementing partners, and data-driven program improvement. The position is funded through a private philanthropic grant and involves full-time engagement for 12 months, with potential renewal.
Geographies: Malawi.
Who can apply: Individual consultants with public health expertise, residency in Malawi, and relevant senior-level experience.
Funding amount: USD $73,000–98,000 (12-month contract).
Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Health; Focus areas: maternal health, neonatal health, systems strengthening.
Deadline: January 15, 2026 (17:00 Central Africa Time).
With deep links to Malawi’s Ministry of Health, this role offers a rare opportunity to drive high-impact public health work from within the system.
Healthy Cities with Pride — Small Grants Program (Malaysia), Jejaka. *New!* *Closing soon!*
Jejaka is launching the “Healthy Cities with Pride” initiative, offering small grants to support LGBTQ+ and HIV‑focused community work across select Malaysian cities. This program offers six months of funding (with potential extensions) to empower community‑led efforts that advance inclusive health and rights‑based services. With an emphasis on accessibility and flexibility, this fund is open to both formal and informal actors — including registered organizations, grassroots collectives, and individual community leaders. Activities may range from peer‑led health education and safe space creation to community outreach and organizational development.
Geographies: Penang, Kuching (Sarawak), Kota Kinabalu (Sabah), Pahang, Terengganu & Kelantan.
Who can apply: Registered organizations, informal groups/collectives, and individual community leaders (registration not required).
Funding amount: RM10,000–RM60,000 (~USD $2,100–12,700).
Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Public Health; Focus areas: LGBTQ+ inclusion, HIV response, grassroots engagement.
Deadline: January 16, 2026.
This program centers the lived realities of marginalized communities — pairing grassroots leadership with practical, localized resources to advance health and dignity.
Mental Health Scale-Up Fund, Community Foundation for Surrey (CFSurrey). *Closing soon!*
This fund provides multi‑year grants to expand community-based mental health and wellbeing services across Surrey, UK. It seeks to scale up interventions that have already shown positive impact, aiming to reach underserved populations including children, youth, families, and marginalized groups, and to extend services geographically or adapt them for new cohorts. The fund supports a wide range of preventive and supportive mental health approaches- from counselling and peer support to nature-based therapy, community outreach, and suicide-prevention programs.
Geographies: Surrey, United Kingdom.
Who can apply: Registered non-profit/VCSE organizations, community groups, charities or community interest companies with social purpose (statutory bodies and for‑profits are not eligible).
Funding amount: Up to £75,000 per year for up to 5 years.
Targeted Sectors: Health / Wellbeing; Focus areas: youth mental health, community mental health services, preventive support, scale-up of proven interventions.
Deadline: January 19, 2026 (EOI).
Projects that combine proven impact, clear scalability plans and strong community outreach, especially reaching excluded or high-need groups, will be most competitive under this fund.
Improving access to diagnostics through the adoption of tools and approaches that drive integration, Unitaid. *Closing soon!*
Seeks to transform diagnostic access by enabling countries to design and deploy integrated diagnostic strategies that cut across diseases, levels of care and service delivery models. The call supports proposals that bolster demand and adoption of techniques such as multi‑disease, multi‑modal tests, strengthen market entry/commercialization pathways, and build sustainable financing and supply chain ecosystems in low‑ and middle‑income countries. It emphasizes people‑centered, equitable deployment at decentralized levels, strong linkages to care, and alignment with national diagnostic systems.
Geographies: Global, focused on low‑ and middle‑income countries (LMICs) in multi‑country (4‑5 country) projects.
Who can apply: Organizational applicants (consortia or leads) working in LMICs with country‑level partnerships; South‑based implementers encouraged.
Funding amount: Approximate total pool USD $25 million. Funding will be allocated based on the select project needs.
Targeted Sectors / SDGs: Primary Sector: Diagnostics & testing tools; Focus areas: integrated diagnostics, multi‑disease platforms, decentralized testing, linking diagnostics to care pathways.
Deadline: January 19, 2026 (12:00 noon CET)
This call spotlights diagnostics as a foundational lever: by investing in integrated, ecosystem‑aware diagnostic solutions, Unitaid aims to enable earlier detection, improved linkage to care, and more resilient health systems across multiple diseases in underserved settings.
