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Disclaimer: This piece discusses pregnancy and motherhood; while we use the term “mother” throughout the piece to mirror the language of the community we are collaborating with; we also acknowledge that not all pregnant people identify as “mothers.” We would like to recognize that pregnancy and motherhood can be experienced by people of all genders. Jacaranda Health is dedicated to improving the quality of care for mothers and babies seeking services at government health facilities, where most underserved people access care in Kenya. The problem they are trying to address is two-fold: how…government, as maternal and newborn health services are provided for free through public health facilities. Jacaranda has engaged national and county governments to share ownership in the design, implementation and scale-up of programs from its early days. This has meant ensuring their programs complement existing health system structures and that governments, especially those cost-sharing the programs, become invested…

[caption id="attachment_27814" align="alignright" width="297"] Natalie Boychuck, Research Assistant, Humanitarian Grand Challenge[/caption] By Natalie Boychuck, former research assistant to the Humanitarian Grand Challenge, and a student at the Munk School of Global Affairs Being a woman in humanitarian crisis is devastatingly far from easy; a fact that Noura al Jizawi, a Syrian revolutionary, mother, and masters student at the Munk School of Global Affairs understands too well. Noura was kidnapped by the Assad regime for her role as one of the leaders of the revolution and was held for seven months in Syria’s most notorious prisons, where sexual violence and lack of…of conflict, sexual violence is used to destroy the dignity and spirit of women and girls and to crush their potential. It’s this reality that keeps me up at night thinking about how humanitarian assistance can get better at reaching the most vulnerable women and girls. Approximately 26 million women and girls of reproductive age…barriers to reaching young women just to understand their needs are incredibly difficult and expensive to overcome. And yet, Noura’s story shows that women are capable of designing solutions to the challenges they face and that when they do, they have the power to completely change the status quo. I’m looking forward to seeing the…

…Hematology, the Director of the Medical Physics Graduate Program, a Professor of Physics & Astronomy and an Associate Professor of Radiology at the University of Manitoba. According to Breastcancer.org, 12% of women in developed countries will develop invasive breast cancer at some point in their lifetime. This means that one in eight women will be affected by breast cancer.  The incidence of breast cancer in low-and-middle-income countries (LMIC) is lower than in the wealthier nations, but the mortality rates are higher. For example, the American Cancer Society report on Cancer in Africa (2011) states that “the five-year survival rate for breast cancer is less than 50% in Gambia, Uganda,…improve the availability of breast cancer pre-screening in low- and middle-income countries and in rural communities in developed nations - a potential example of reverse innovation. Microwave signals similar to those used by commercial cellphones can be directed towards a breast, where they will scatter when they interact with different types of tissue. Breast tumours scatter more than normal tissues and a group led by Professor Stephen Pistorius at the University of Manitoba is using these physical phenomena to come up with alternative methods of detecting the presence of a tumour in the breast. [caption id="attachment_20449" align="aligncenter" width="500"] Figure 1: A schematic of an early version of the…

On January 28, Bell will encourage Canadians to once again be part of the important national conversation to fight the stigma surrounding mental health. Each year, the Bell Let’s Talk campaign raises awareness about mental health issues across Canada.  Only one-third of those who need mental health-related services in Canada will receive treatment, often due to the…cause of disability on the planet. Almost three quarters of this burden is affecting people in low- and middle-income countries – that’s over 350 million people. And up to 85 per cent of people with severe mental health disorders in developing countries do not receive any treatment or care. Instead, people who suffer from mental disorders are stigmatized and ignored. They face violence and isolation. The appropriate care and treatment we consider a basic human right in Canada is a distant dream for sufferers in low-resource countries. The challenge of global mental health in the developing world offers an enormous opportunity for transformative change. To date, Grand Challenges Canada, which…sure this happens. Earlier this month, we extended $7.7 million to 22 projects worldwide, including a grant of up to $2 million to an innovative program in India designed to improve the quality of mental health patient treatment and to end reported abuses. Our innovators will creatively explore how to augment and amplify relatively meagre existing…

• Innovation Marketplace, hosted at Grand Challenges Canada, leverages 10x initial investment over five years • Plans for renewal and growth to be revealed in 2021   Toronto, September 24, 2020 – The Every Woman Every Child (EWEC) Innovation Marketplace—a strategic alliance of global development innovation organizations including Grand Challenges Canada, the Norwegian Agency for …And, because of its positioning in the global health community, the Marketplace also often creates opportunities for innovators to build long-term partnerships that can help them meet significant milestones.” Haitham El-Noush, Co-Founder and Member of the EWEC Innovation Marketplace Steering Committee and Senior Advisor, Global Health at Norad, added: “When we began on the journey…Canada, Grand Challenges Canada has supported a pipeline of over 1,300 innovations in 106 countries. Grand Challenges Canada estimates that these innovations have the potential to save up to 1.78 million lives and improve up to 64 million lives by 2030. -30- For more information, please contact: Douglas Chow, Senior Manager, Communications Grand Challenges Canada…

To mark World Water Week 2015, Grand Challenges Canada is featuring an innovator addressing Nairobi’s polluted groundwater. Susan Naipanoi Letuya is the Partnership Manager at TakaTaka Solutions, a Stars in Global Health project that is tackling health challenges in urban Kenyan households. Every day, around 200 trucks enter Dandora dumpsite, Nairobi’s official landfill, to dispose of more than 800 tons of waste.  After queuing for hours, drivers slowly maneuver their heavy trucks across the waste, careful not to get stuck, as Dandora has no real roads. Once a truck reaches the offloading…Nairobi’s waste is organic and whatever else comes out of a waste truck is often too dirty to be resold. So the waste accumulates, and Dandora swallows up more and more of the neighboring slum of Korogocho. [caption id="attachment_20235" align="aligncenter" width="500"] Dandora dumpsite, Nairobi's official landfill.[/caption] Dandora is a health and environmental disaster. At 43…behavior change every day. Faith joined us less than a year ago as a waste sorter, but after seeing the dedication of the mother of two, we promoted her to her current role. She now manages collectors, drivers, sorters, and many others, and we could not be happier with her results.  Faith recounts: “When we…