Villagers return home after receiving new mosquito nets in the Massinga district of Inhambane, Mozambique.
Grand Challenges is a family of initiatives fostering innovation to address key global health and development priorities.
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Run For Her - “No woman should die giving life”
On a recent Sunday morning, about 50,000 runners packed the streets of Nairobi and 25 other counties across Kenya to raise awareness about postpartum hemorrhage, the leading cause of maternal death.
Moses Obimbo, a Calestous Juma fellow and practicing ob-gyn, began organizing the run three years ago to break the culture of silence surrounding PPH in Kenya. He hoped awareness would lead to community ownership and action. The government has since released plans to reduce preventable maternal, neonatal, and stillbirth deaths by 15% across 26 hotspot counties within two years.
This year, organizers also set up blood donation sites at the finish lines. They collected 3,350 units of blood - enough to save about 1,500 women from death or organ failure.
"I really believe in the power of the people. When we all push for something to be done and work as a team, then it's possible to save our mothers," said Moses.
The 4 Pillars of the Grand Challenges Ecosystem
Innovation happens all along the journey from idea, to experiment, to product or policy, and finally to delivery at scale in communities. We fund innovation projects while supporting an environment of champions, systems, and partnerships to maximize the impact these projects make in people's lives.
Innovations
Grand Challenges funds innovations to tackle the biggest problems in global health and development. Since 2004, through the Grand Challenges program, we have supported more than 2500 innovation projects in more than 90 countries.
Champions
Grand Challenges supports exceptional scientists with the expertise to do breakthrough R&D as well as the experience, networks, and skills to excel as scientific leaders. These champions co-create projects with global partners, mobilize key institutions in their countries, and improve public health in their communities and around the world.
Partnerships
For more than 20 years, Grand Challenges has built trusted relationships with global health funders and researchers. We tap into this powerful network to create unique scientific collaborations with a transformative impact on people's lives.
Systems
Doing groundbreaking science requires the right mix of institutions, policies, and tools. Grand Challenges works with partners in low- and middle-income countries to build or strengthen the capacities they need to succeed in R&D.
