WASHINGTON (July 31, 2013) – The Saving Lives at Birth: A Grand Challenge for Development today announced 22 Round 3 award nominees from a pool of 53 finalists – innovators who descended on Washington for three days to showcase bold, new ideas to save the lives of mothers and newborns in developing countries with aspirations of international funding to realize their vision.
The award nominees cut across maternal and neonatal health, family planning, nutrition and HIV and they present not only cutting-edge technologies that can be used in resource-poor settings, but innovative approaches to delivering services and the adoption of healthy behaviors. The announcement was made at the closing forum of the DevelopmentXChange by the Saving Lives at Birth partners. The nominees will now enter into final negotiations before awards are issued.
The Saving Lives at Birth partnership, launched in 2011, includes the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the Government of Norway, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Grand Challenges Canada (funded by the Government of Canada), and the U.K's Department for International Development (DFID). The grand challenge is a global call for groundbreaking, scalable solutions to prevent infant and maternal deaths around the time of birth.
The Saving Lives at Birth DevelopmentXChange provided a platform for top global innovators to present their ideas in an open, dynamic marketplace and exchange ideas with development experts and potential funders to help meet the immense challenge of protecting mothers and newborns in the poorest places on earth, during their most vulnerable hours. Other promising ideas will be considered for "incubator awards" to assist innovators in further developing their ideas through dialogue and mentorship.
Award nominees of Saving Lives at Birth Round 3 include 4 transition-to-scale grant nominees:
And 18 seed grant nominees:
The Saving Lives at Birth DevelopmentXChange featured discussions focused on meeting the needs and realities of women and children in low-resource settings as well as workshops that explored business planning, market research, impact investing, and strategies for scaling their innovations. The three-day event concluded with a forum featuring Ambassador Susan E. Rice, National Security Advisor; Dr. Rajiv Shah, Administrator, USAID; HRH Princess Sarah Zeid of Jordan; New York Times best-selling author Dan Heath and NASA astronaut Col. Ron Garan (ret.).
Leading into the DevelopmentXChange, existing Saving Lives at Birth grantees participated in a three-day, customized training program – a focal point of the global health Xcelerator. This eight-month program, offered through a partnership between National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance (NCIIA), the Lemelson Foundation and USAID, provides grantees the tools and knowledge to scale their ideas and maximize the impact of their innovations.
Every year 150,000 mothers and 1.6 million newborns die during childbirth and 1.2 million infants are stillborn. In an effort to accelerate progress toward the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) 4 and 5, which aim to end preventable child and maternal deaths, this partnership brings together leading innovators, development experts, and potential funders in an open, dynamic marketplace of ideas, the DevelopmentXChange builds a community of creative thinkers to address this global need. Saving Lives at Birth has funded 39 innovations since the challenge began in 2011.
To learn more about the Saving Lives at Birth Round 3 award nominees go to: http://www.savinglivesatbirth.net
For additional information, contact:
USAID Press Office: USAIDPressOfficers@usaid.gov
Government of Norway: Haitham El-noush, Haitham.El-noush@norad.no
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation: media@gatesfoundation.org
Grand Challenges Canada: Terry Collins, tc@tca.tc
DFID: Olivia Campbell, o-campbell@dfid.gov.uk