Announcing the Award Nominees of Saving Lives at Birth: A Grand Challenge for Development Round 3

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Saving Lives at Birth: A Grand Challenge For Development. Round 3 Award Nominees Announced. Photo of woman holding a baby.
The Saving Lives at Birth: A Grand Challenge for Development partners announced yesterday its award nominees from 53 finalists in its third global call for innovative ideas to save the lives of mothers and newborns in developing countries.

The Grand Challenge is a global call for groundbreaking, scalable solutions to infant and maternal mortality around the time of birth. Saving Lives at Birth is currently in its third award round and has funded 39 innovations to date, helping to address the 150,000 maternal deaths, 1.6 million neonatal deaths and 1.2 million stillbirths that occur each year.

Partners include USAID, the Government of Norway, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Grand Challenges Canada and the U.K.’s Department for International Development.

Award Nominees

Peer Choice
Monash University    Clayton, Austrailia
A novel aerosol delivery system for oxytocin that can be inhaled by patients from a simple, disposable device immediately after childbirth for the management of postpartum hemorrhage (PPH).
 
People’s Choice
Oregon Health and Science University    Portland, OR, USA
The Xstat minisponge applicator for the treatment of PPH.
 
Transition-to-Scale Grant Nominees
Africare    Dakar, Senegal
A collaborative community-based technology that integrates community support services with mobile and telemedicine platforms to increase demand for, and access to, quality prenatal care services in Senegal.
Epidemiological Research Center in Sexual and Reproductive Health    Guatemala City, Guatemala
An integrated approach to reduce maternal and perinatal mortality in northern Guatemala through simulation-based training, social marketing campaigns and formal health care system engagement.
Massachusetts General Hospital    Boston, MA, USA
A next-generation uterine balloon tamponade (UBT) device to treat PPH in Kenya and South Sudan.
The Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital    Columbus, OH, USA
A low-cost paper-based urine test for early diagnosis of pre-eclampsia to reduce pre-eclampsia morbidity and mortality in resource-limited areas.
 
Seed Grant Nominees
BILIMETRIX SRL    Trieste, Italy
An inexpensive system to rapidly test for markers of hyperbilirubinemia (kernicterus) – an often fatal form of brain damage caused by excessive jaundice – in low-resource settings in Nigeria, Egypt and Indonesia.
Bioceptive, Inc.    New Orleans, LA, USA
A low-cost, reusable and intuitive intrauterine device (IUD) inserter to make the IUD insertion procedure easier and safer in low-resource settings.
Convergent Engineering Inc.    Newberry, FL, USA
An inexpensive, easy-to-use, hand-held early warning system that detects pre-eclampsia 10-12 weeks before the onset of symptoms. The system pairs a wrist strap embedded with inexpensive ECG and photoplethysmography sensors with a smart phone for processing, data aggregation and communication.
JustMilk - Dept. of Chemical Engineering, University of Cambridge    Cambridge, UK
A low-cost system that aids the administration of drugs and nutrients to breastfeeding infants via easily disintegrating tablets housed within a modified Nipple Shield Delivery System.
Dimagi, Inc. (CommTrack)    Cambridge, MA, USA
An open-source distribution management system that integrates mobile and GPS technology to improve transparency, supply chain functioning, communication and the timely delivery of medicine to hard-to-reach, low-income areas in Africa.
Duke University    Durham, NC, USA
Healthcare system integration of the “Pratt Pouch” – a tiny ketchup-like packet that stores antiretroviral AIDS medication for a year – to enable the pouch to be used in home-birth settings to prevent transmission of HIV from mother to child. Testing taking place in Zambia.
Emory University    Atlanta, GA, USA
A micro-needle patch that co-administers the influenza and tetanus toxoid vaccines to pregnant mothers and children in developing countries.
Mbarara University of Science and Technology    Mbarara, Uganda
The Augmented Infant Resuscitator (AIR), which gives instant feedback to health care professionals performing newborn resuscitation to reduce neonatal deaths from intrapartum birth asphyxia or prematurity.
Nanobiosym, Inc    Cambridge, MA, USA
A nanotech platform that enables rapid, accurate and mobile HIV diagnosis at point-of-care, allowing for timely treatment with antiretroviral therapy to reduce HIV-related mortality in infants in Rwanda.
Oregon Health and Science University    Portland, OR, USA
The Xstat minisponge applicator for the treatment of PPH.
Population Services International    Washington, DC, USA
A new inserter for immediate postpartum intrauterine device insertions to increase contraceptive uptake in developing countries.
President and Fellows of Harvard College    Boston, MA, USA
A hand-held vital sign monitor for the rapid diagnosis of frail and sick newborns.
Program for Appropriate Technology in Health (PATH)    Seattle, WA, USA
A heat-stable oxytocin in a fast-dissolving oral tablet to treat PPH.
Program for Appropriate Technology in Health (PATH)    Seattle, WA, USA
A magnesium sulfate (MgSO4) gel that simplifies treatment of pre-eclampsia and eclampsia.
The Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System    Madison, WI, USA
A Lactobacillus casei strain that enables the sustainable home production of beta-Carotene-enriched dairy products for at-risk mothers and families in South Asia.
The University of Melbourne    Melbourne, Australia
A low-cost, electricity-free oxygen concentrator suitable for providing provisional oxygen for neonates in low-resource settings.
University of Toronto    Toronto, Canada
A spray-encapsulated iron premix that will be attached to tea leaves to reduce rates of iron deficiency of pregnant women in South Asia.
University of Valencia    Valencia, Spain
A Rapid point-of-care test strips for early diagnosis of sepsis in pregnancy and childbirth.

Saving Lives at Birth. A partnership of USAID, Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Grand CHallenges Canada and UK Aid


Photo source: Adriane Ohanesian



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