United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the Government of Norway, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Grand Challenges Canada, and UK’s Department of International Development (DFID) have joined together to launch the third round of Saving Lives at Birth: A Grand Challenge for Development.
Together, we call for groundbreaking prevention and treatment approaches for pregnant women and newborns in poor, hard-to-reach communities around the time of childbirth. The estimated 2.6 million stillbirths, 3.1 million neonatal deaths and 360,000 maternal deaths that occur globally each year signal a major gap for intervention specifically around childbirth and the early postnatal period – a time when mothers and babies are most vulnerable and global progress in reducing mortality has been particularly poor. This gap in interventions is particularly acute in poor, underserved communities and among women who are disadvantaged.
Innovative ideas that can leapfrog conventional approaches are critical in this area. If we are to accelerate substantial and sustainable progress in reducing maternal and newborn deaths and stillbirths at the community level, we need innovative prevention and treatment approaches across three main domains:
(1) Science & technology;
(2) Service delivery; and
(3) Demand-side innovation that empowers pregnant women and their families to practice healthy behaviors and be aware of and access health care during pregnancy, childbirth and the early postnatal period, especially the first two days after birth.
We are particularly interested in investing in approaches that integrate the latest scientific, technological, behavior change, and information and communication advances into radical solutions for impact on maternal and newborn health.
Significant breakthroughs in innovation often come about when new ideas and disciplines are applied to long-entrenched problems. New technologies and approaches can transform insurmountable development challenges into solvable problems. To harness this ingenuity, we encourage partnerships that bring together diverse expertise from non-traditional partners, particularly those that include private sector partners. We are calling on for-profit companies, non-governmental organizations, academic/medical research institutions, faith-based organizations, civic groups and foundations across a range of disciplines to take up this challenge.
Critical to the success of innovative solutions is a clear understanding of how best to implement them at scale, with priority emphasis on target populations. To foster sustainability, we encourage ideas that integrate scientific / technological, social and business innovation.
Successful implementation at scale may include private and public sector expertise and engagement in deploying, advocating for or sustaining solutions. Development of new interventions, technologies or approaches and their successful scale up should complement efforts to strengthen health systems and address broader determinants of health including poverty, inequity (including gender inequity), and access to water and sanitation resources, all of which are needed to address this grand challenge for development.
Audacious but achievable ideas with the potential to lead to transformational change will be swiftly funded through at least one of two funding streams:
(1) Seed Funds to demonstrate proof of concept, and
(2) Transition Funds to transition successful innovations toward scale up.
In addition, promising, yet unsuccessful seed applicants may receive an Idea Award to further develop their idea.
These investments in potentially high-return projects are aimed to identify and support transformational approaches to women’s and newborns’ health that can be scaled up to dramatically – and sustainably – reduce deaths and poor birth outcomes for millions of women and newborns in the hardest to reach communities of the world.
This call for applications is the third one issued under this program. The Partners launched Saving Lives at Birth on March 9, 2011, issuing the first global call for transformative ideas to address this grand challenge. In its first two rounds, we received a resounding response from the global community and, through a competitive process, identified 142 finalists - 77 in the first round and 65 in the second round - with the most potential to tackle this grand challenge. We invited them to the annual Development Exchange, held in late July, which served as the last stage of the review process and the first step in building a global community of innovators. At the end of the high-level event, we nominated for award the innovators that demonstrated the most promising ideas with the potential to scale up and sustain impact over time. Since 2011, Saving Lives at Birth has supported 38 exciting and potentially transformational solutions to women’s and newborns’ health.
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Together, we call for groundbreaking prevention and treatment approaches for pregnant women and newborns in poor, hard-to-reach communities around the time of childbirth. The estimated 2.6 million stillbirths, 3.1 million neonatal deaths and 360,000 maternal deaths that occur globally each year signal a major gap for intervention specifically around childbirth and the early postnatal period – a time when mothers and babies are most vulnerable and global progress in reducing mortality has been particularly poor. This gap in interventions is particularly acute in poor, underserved communities and among women who are disadvantaged.
Innovative ideas that can leapfrog conventional approaches are critical in this area. If we are to accelerate substantial and sustainable progress in reducing maternal and newborn deaths and stillbirths at the community level, we need innovative prevention and treatment approaches across three main domains:
(1) Science & technology;
(2) Service delivery; and
(3) Demand-side innovation that empowers pregnant women and their families to practice healthy behaviors and be aware of and access health care during pregnancy, childbirth and the early postnatal period, especially the first two days after birth.
We are particularly interested in investing in approaches that integrate the latest scientific, technological, behavior change, and information and communication advances into radical solutions for impact on maternal and newborn health.
Significant breakthroughs in innovation often come about when new ideas and disciplines are applied to long-entrenched problems. New technologies and approaches can transform insurmountable development challenges into solvable problems. To harness this ingenuity, we encourage partnerships that bring together diverse expertise from non-traditional partners, particularly those that include private sector partners. We are calling on for-profit companies, non-governmental organizations, academic/medical research institutions, faith-based organizations, civic groups and foundations across a range of disciplines to take up this challenge.
Critical to the success of innovative solutions is a clear understanding of how best to implement them at scale, with priority emphasis on target populations. To foster sustainability, we encourage ideas that integrate scientific / technological, social and business innovation.
Successful implementation at scale may include private and public sector expertise and engagement in deploying, advocating for or sustaining solutions. Development of new interventions, technologies or approaches and their successful scale up should complement efforts to strengthen health systems and address broader determinants of health including poverty, inequity (including gender inequity), and access to water and sanitation resources, all of which are needed to address this grand challenge for development.
Audacious but achievable ideas with the potential to lead to transformational change will be swiftly funded through at least one of two funding streams:
(1) Seed Funds to demonstrate proof of concept, and
(2) Transition Funds to transition successful innovations toward scale up.
In addition, promising, yet unsuccessful seed applicants may receive an Idea Award to further develop their idea.
These investments in potentially high-return projects are aimed to identify and support transformational approaches to women’s and newborns’ health that can be scaled up to dramatically – and sustainably – reduce deaths and poor birth outcomes for millions of women and newborns in the hardest to reach communities of the world.
This call for applications is the third one issued under this program. The Partners launched Saving Lives at Birth on March 9, 2011, issuing the first global call for transformative ideas to address this grand challenge. In its first two rounds, we received a resounding response from the global community and, through a competitive process, identified 142 finalists - 77 in the first round and 65 in the second round - with the most potential to tackle this grand challenge. We invited them to the annual Development Exchange, held in late July, which served as the last stage of the review process and the first step in building a global community of innovators. At the end of the high-level event, we nominated for award the innovators that demonstrated the most promising ideas with the potential to scale up and sustain impact over time. Since 2011, Saving Lives at Birth has supported 38 exciting and potentially transformational solutions to women’s and newborns’ health.
Moreinfo: Click here
