Grand Challenges in Global Health Seeks Novel and Innovative Approaches to Reducing Maternal, Fetal, and Neonatal Mortality and Morbidity

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Grand Challenges in Global Health has announced Round 5 of their Grand Challenges Explorations Initiative: New Technologies to Improve the Health of Mothers and Newborns.

Grand Challenges in Global Health

About Grand Challenges Explorations (GCE)

Grand Challenges Explorations is an accelerated grant-making initiative that is open to all disciplines, students, professors, and members of all sorts of organizations–including colleges and universities, government laboratories, research institutions, non-profit organizations and for-profit companies.

The goal of the initiative is to foster innovation in global health research. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation supports this initiative and will make initial grants of $100,000–and successful projects will have the opportunity to receive a follow-on grant of up to $1 million.

“One bold idea. That’s all it takes. Unorthodox thinking is essential to overcoming the most persistent challenges in global health. Vaccines were first developed over 200 years ago because revolutionary thinkers took an entirely new approach to preventing disease.”

Click here for more information on the GCE initiatve.

About Round 5: New Technologies to Improve the Health of Mothers and Newborns

This is the first GCE topic focused entirely on maternal and neonatal health. The goal is to solicit novel and innovative technologies to reduce maternal, fetal or neonatal mortality and morbidity. GCE asks that proposals for new interventions meet the following two criteria:

1.      Have a strong likelihood of achieving a substantial impact on one or more important adverse maternal, fetal, or neonatal outcomes described here.

2.      Be designed to meet the requirements of minimally-trained health workers in homes and communities as well as workers in primary clinics;

Grant proposals are being accepted online at http://www.grandchallenges.org/explorations until May 19, 2010.

“We seek proposals that may be ‘off the beaten track,’ daring in premise, and are clearly differentiated from approaches currently being developed or employed. Technologies or approaches should enhance uptake, acceptability and provide for sustained use; enable or provide for low-cost solutions; promote effective delivery and administration of new solutions; and ensure or enhance safety.”

 

Click here for more information on Round 5: New Technologies to Improve the Health of Mothers and Newborns.