Search results for:

Kijakazi Mashoto is the Principal Research Scientist at the National Institute for Medical Research in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. She is the lead investigator on a project under our Stars In Global Health Program that aims to use novel technology to treat and store water as a strategy to prevent diarrhoea in rural areas of Tanzania. The lack of access to safe drinking water, together with inadequate sanitation and hygiene, poses a major health risk and is the main contributor to diarrheal deaths globally. Unsafe water supplies cause an estimated 1.734 billion episodes of diarrhea each year and lead to 1.34 million deaths due to diarrheal diseases among children under the age of five…of diarrhea per 10 children per week was reported before the intervention. After the implementation, this number was reduced to 0.22 episodes per 10 children per week. Significantly fewer diarrhea cases were reported for children in the intervention arm (73) compared to those in control arm (190 episodes). Children in households accessing Takasamaji were less…

…somebody who has or is fighting cancer. World Cancer Day, February 4, explores how everyone – as a collective or as individuals – can do their part to reduce the global burden of cancer. Cancer is a pressing challenge in global health that disproportionately affects developing countries: 60 per cent of the world's total cases occur in Africa, Asia, and Central and South America, and these regions account for about 70 per cent of the world's cancer deaths, according to the International Agency for Research on Cancer. To tackle this, Grand Challenges Canada, which is funded by the Government of Canada, is dedicated to supporting Bold Ideas with Big Impact from innovators, both in low- and middle-income countries and in Canada. We encourage them to use scientific, technical, social and business innovation to address…Garcia is evaluating the performance and feasibility of the implementation of a new screening model for cervical cancer in Peru. The project is using community women as promoters, includes the use of self-administered vaginal swabs for collection of samples, as well as a new molecular test for the human papillomavirus (HPV). Joep van Oosterhout aims…nicotine vaccine implemented in Addiction to nicotine makes it difficult to quit smoking, which is prominently linked to cancer and cardiovascular diseases. Jamilla Rajab aimed to elevate the significance of HIV-linked cancers to diverse stakeholders in Kenya by developing a unique repository of information on common cancers, especially those that are linked to HIV. Helen Dimaras aimed to improve cancer…

Dr. Steven Buchsbaum is Deputy Director, Discovery & Translational Sciences, Global Health Program of Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. We use Grand Challenges to seek new knowledge or new concepts that will lead to interventions that would not otherwise have occurred or that would not have occurred as quickly without our investment. Inherent in this…to learn from these mistakes. In the last decade, we and our partners have run numerous challenge calls ranging from very specific technical calls seeking new biomarkers for TB to new concepts for promoting health seeking behaviors. Each of these varied challenge calls can be viewed as an experiment and increasingly we aspire to evaluate these individual experiments to permit the…To this end, we can view each challenge call as an independent experiment to be evaluated.  If we apply this analysis to the original GCGH call which supported 44 projects, nine are currently on a pathway towards development (GREEN projects, 20%) and ten contribute essential tools or knowledge to other development projects (YELLOW projects, 23%). …be published as well as proprietary concepts from commercial sources.  Collectively, this new information and perspective has shaped the Foundation’s thinking in this area and guided the design of a range of planned initiatives. [caption id="attachment_14799" align="alignright" width="300"] Photo courtesy of Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation[/caption] Increased funding for innovation Grand Challenges continues to provide…

March 8 is International Women's Day. We celebrate the economic, political and social achievements of women, but it is also a moment to raise awareness about the many struggles of women worldwide. Family violence (often a synonym for violence against women) is, unfortunately, a prevalent universal phenomenon, irrespective of whether a country is poor or rich. Violence kills more than 1.6 million people each year.…intimidation or lack of reporting.  In many nations today, victims of family violence suffer in silence, due to the limited availability of healthcare, the lack of social support services or stigma. Violence directly affects people’s health, resulting in physical, mental, sexual, reproductive and other health problems. It may, for example, increase vulnerability to HIV and…such as spouses, fathers or fathers-in-law. As many as 38% of murders of women are committed by an intimate partner. The Government of Canada has made the promotion of women’s and girl’s human rights and gender equality a central element of its domestic and foreign policies. It is a cause all Canadians feel strongly about.…

Grand Challenges Canada believes that offering innovators breathing room to develop bold ideas that have big impact is a recipe for sustainable and viable solutions in global health. Funded by the Government of Canada, we developed the ‘Stars in Global Health’ program to support these kinds of ideas from the best and brightest talents, both in low- and middle-income countries and in Canada. The ecosystem we have developed is transparent and effective. Initially, we fund ‘proof of concept’ projects with grants of up to $100,000. If the concept is proven and has the potential to be transformative, the innovations have the opportunity to move to the next phase, called ‘transition…first pre-natal visit. Through this intervention, the rate of still births and the neonatal mortality rate were cut almost in half along with a slight but statistically significant reduction in maternal mortality rate. By comparing the outcomes in the experimental group with the control group, the project team determined that the lives of 32 foetuses,…

…Joseph L. Rotman, the Chairman of Grand Challenges Canada’s Board of Directors, and now hear them often repeated internally. In other words, we knew what were planning to do, but now we needed to figure out how to actually do it.[1]   [caption id="attachment_10685" align="aligncenter" width="400"] While ideas and innovation are essential, implementation is key…iterative process, building on the strengths of both organizations to shape a well-crafted agreement that will achieve the intended results. Our level of engagement with innovators varies significantly depending on the project size, complexity, and risk. Appropriate partnership with our funded innovators is critical and good communication is essential for achieving results. We encourage our innovators to communicate openly with us about the process (including funding negotiations and project management) and our partnership, and also raise any…six-part series here and reach out to him on Twitter @RvShih. Notes [1] Another way to interpret the same phrase: you don’t win any awards for coming up with brilliant strategy in absence of action. For example, a mass-market retailer like Wal-Mart can strive to profit by providing low margin goods at huge volumes. A…There was absolutely no way I was going to miss Bill Gates’ keynote address for a side meeting. [3] One of the side meetings that I was invited to attend was with Liz Bird and Brad Tytel of a New York based consulting firm called Global Health Strategies. They provided fantastic advice and insight but…

[caption id="attachment_52138" align="alignleft" width="291"] Leeat Gellis - Director of Social Finance, Grand Challenges Canada[/caption] The Transform Health Fund aims to bolster healthcare systems across Africa by scaling proven and innovative healthcare models. Recently, AfricInvest and The Health Finance Coalition announced the final close, successfully raising $111 million through a mix of commercial, public, and private…improve access, affordability, resilience and quality of healthcare on the continent. It invests in locally-led companies delivering innovative primary healthcare models, digitally enabled healthcare solutions, and health supply chain transformation. The fund was established as a joint venture between AfricInvest, an African private equity firm with a 30-year track record, and the Health Finance Coalition,…of the fund, having raised $111M USD from investors and surpassing their initial $100M USD target. This type of fund is needed because there is still a significant financing gap for social enterprises, particularly for companies in the healthcare space that are trying to reach underserved or unserved communities. How does the Fund work? Transform Health Fund is…on impact. It aims to scale proven, innovative healthcare models with a goal of bolstering local health systems. Its investment process, governance and inclusion of impact incentive bonuses have all been designed thoughtfully to maximize Transform Health Fund’s potential impact. Lastly, as mentioned earlier, one of GCC’s ultimate motivations is to mobilize other funders. This…