The Gates Foundation is part of the Grand Challenges partnership network. Visit <a href="https://www.grandchallenges.org" target="_blank">www.grandchallenges.org</a> to view the map of awarded grants across this network and grant opportunities from partners.

Grand Challenges supports exceptional scientists with the expertise to do breakthrough R&amp;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.

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.

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.

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.

The 4 Pillars of the Grand Challenges Ecosystem

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&amp;D.

We challenge innovators around the world to work on urgent priorities in global health and development. We issue new challenges regularly and award the most promising proposals with grant funding.&nbsp;

Past Challenges

Grand Challenges Africa

Accelerating Innovation in Vaginal Formulations in Support of Women's Health

Note that this Request for Proposals is being launched by multiple partners, across variable geographies, topic areas, and funding levels. Please review the requirements for each RFP to determine your eligibility. African researchers located in South Africa should apply through the corresponding country-specific Grand Challenges portal; African researchers located in all other African countries should apply <a href="https://agaseke.scienceforafrica.foundation/Login.aspx" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">through the Grand Challenges Africa portal</a>; Brazilian researchers located in Brazilian organizations should apply through the Grand Challenges Brazil portal; and Indian researchers located in Indian organizations should apply through the Grand Challenges India portal. Researchers outside of these geographies should apply through the Gates Foundation Grand Challenges portal. Please consult the information provided in the subsection on geography of interest to ensure that your application fits the requirements of the RFP you are applying to.
Before applying, applicants should familiarise themselves with the supporting documents for this Grand Challenge, including the <a href="https://scienceforafrica.foundation/funding/womens-health-innovation-accelerating-innovation-vaginal-formulations-support-womens-health/rules-and-guidelines" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Rules and Guidelines</a>, <a href="https://scienceforafrica.foundation/funding/womens-health-innovation-accelerating-innovation-vaginal-formulations-support-womens-health/application-instructions" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Application Instructions,</a> and <a href="https://scienceforafrica.foundation/funding/womens-health-innovation-accelerating-innovation-vaginal-formulations-support-womens-health/faqs" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Frequently Asked Questions.</a>
Application Deadline
Tuesday, 16 December 1700HRS, East African Time (EAT)
<h2>Background</h2>
Local delivery of drugs into the vagina for prevention and treatment of female-specific conditions remains understudied and under-utilized despite clear potential advantages such as discreetness, potent local efficacy, large surface area for drug absorption, high potential for API dosage sparing, and potential for fewer systemic side effects. Several key drivers may be responsible for this lag, including paucity of mechanistic biological data, particularly from high-burden settings such as low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), to support the development of specific formulations for vaginal use as well as a persistent misconception that vaginally delivered products may not be embraced by women and their sexual partners. Several of our priorities for impactful products for sexual and reproductive health will require vaginal delivery for immediate, on-demand use. We seek to catalyse the development of innovative technologies and approaches that can safely and effectively deliver a wide range of vaginal products. We expect these approaches to have user appeal, including promotion of self-care capability and other beneficial features that women seek, hence the need to couple discovery research with high-quality end-user input.
<h2>The Challenge</h2>
We are soliciting applications that contribute to development of vaginal formulations that promote optimal drug delivery within the vaginal compartment while positively supporting the vaginal milieu, and that also possess beneficial effects, even if unrelated to the API intended effect, that a user might consider desirable, such as enhancement of sexual pleasure. We anticipate identifying product-agnostic features that promote vaginal health and that broadly appeal to women to advance product development and formulations for women's health. We welcome innovations at any stage of development that meet the scope of this call.
Applicants may apply to address one or more of the following objectives of this challenge:
<ul>
<li>Leverage biology for vaginally administered products: In this objective, we seek: 1) innovative formulations and delivery approaches that leverage the biology of the vaginal microenvironment to support development of novel delivery technologies and that have high potential for scalable, low-cost manufacturing options; and 2) novel components that could be incorporated into and improve existing formulations (e.g. films, tablets/inserts) that would promote maintenance of or transition to an optimal vaginal microbiome and/or promote other benefit to the vaginal mucosal epithelium. Specifically, we seek to assess and de-risk novel approaches to vaginal delivery that can leverage and support features of the vaginal milieu including mucus, host cells and microbes for drug delivery and as such we anticipate proposals including evaluation of the impact of these novel approaches or components on changes in the microbiome and vaginal host components (cells/cytokines, mucins, glycans, lectins, etc.).</li>
<li>Define characteristics of an ideal vaginal product: In this objective, we seek to support qualitative studies aimed at identifying and understanding specific features of a vaginally administered product that would most appeal to women such that many women, especially those of reproductive age in LMICs, would seek to use such a product (for example, 'what would you hope to achieve when using this product in your vagina?'). We are particularly interested in defining ancillary benefits (such as odor control, sexual enhancement, etc.) that could be derived from a vaginally delivered product that would likely not be supported by other routes of administration, as well as identifying major hurdles that may prevent a woman from seeking out or preferring a vaginal product. We acknowledge that there may be regional, cultural, demographic or other preference differences, and are seeking to identify desires or barriers that are commonly expressed by women across these demographic differences. Applicants may propose methods to prioritize preferences such that the vaginal product developed can benefit as many women as possible. In sum, we aim to gather insights into preferred and achievable characteristics that would transform vaginal products from 'tolerable' to 'desirable'.</li>
</ul>
Funding Level
It is expected that successful awardees will be awarded grants in the range of $100,000–200,000. With a funding duration of up to 24 months. Exploratory projects with shorter durations/lower budgets that focus on high-risk, innovative areas are strongly encouraged and will be given priority. Budgets should be commensurate with the scope of work proposed. Indirect costs should be included in the budget and should not exceed 10-15% of the total award
Eligibility Criteria
This initiative is open to research institutes, nonprofit organizations, for-profit companies, international organizations, government agencies, and academic institutions. Please note that all applicants will be expected to comply with the Foundation's global access clause. We encourage groups to build upon existing and/or complimentary projects/studies/trials and to collaborate with other institutions. We particularly encourage applications from projects led by women and/or researchers at institutions based in LMICs and/or involving collaboration with women-led or LMIC-based organizations. Only individuals who are applying through a legally recognized corporate entity are eligible.
We are looking for proposals that:
<ul>
<li>Focus on vaginal delivery approaches that do not require retrieval and disposal after use and can be adapted for extended- or slow-release of active ingredients.</li>
<li>Use innovative, rigorous qualitative approaches that improve or deepen our understanding of standard acceptability metrics.</li>
<li>Generate biological or end-user data from low- and middle-income regions and comply with national regulations on data security, data protection and privacy.</li>
<li>Propose rigorous scientific approaches to study a clear research question and whose rationale is clearly supported by peer-reviewed literature.</li>
<li>Demonstrate feasibility with preliminary data in support of the proposed approach; if no preliminary data exists then the proposal should be limited in scope.</li>
<li>Request the appropriate funds and time to achieve the objectives of the proposed work. Exploratory projects of lower cost but higher risk are strongly encouraged and will be prioritized.</li>
<li>Promote a diverse, inclusive, and supportive research environment, with priority for collaborations involving LMIC-based experts in reproductive health.</li>
</ul>
We will not fund proposals that:
<ul>
<li>Evaluate the impact of currently available vaginally inserted products on the vaginal milieu (e.g. menstrual products, contraceptive devices, over-the-counter probiotics, etc.).</li>
<li>Focus on approaches that would not be feasible or affordable in low- and middle-income countries, including personalized medicine. If these approaches are included, the feasibility of scalable, low-cost development should be explicitly stated.</li>
<li>Focus on the development of therapeutics or interventions for specific conditions, such as treatment for STIs or contraceptive products. While these types of interventions may be used as a test case within the proposal, the work itself should focus on formulations.</li>
<li>Are focused solely on basic exploratory scientific research without a clear translational pathway, including potential end-use scenarios, scalability considerations and regulatory or manufacturing implications.</li>
<li>Center solely on focus groups and interviews. These methods or qualitative approaches are acceptable if embedded within rigorous mixed-methods study designs that generate quantitative, actionable insights beyond anecdotal data or standard acceptability metrics such as affective attitudes.</li>
<li>Do not consider end user preferences or assume end-user preferences. For the purposes of this RFP, end-users can be defined as women of reproductive age in low- and middle-income countries. Proposals may focus on subgroups (e.g., adolescents, post-partum women), but the target group must be explicitly defined and justified.</li>
<li>Primarily depend on traditional acceptability questionnaires or surveys (e.g., "if x hypothetical product existed, how interested would you be in using it?").</li>
<li>Do not directly address one of the core objectives as outlined above.</li>
<li>Cannot be accomplished within a two-year maximum project duration or within the stipulated budget maximum.</li>
<li>Support researchers or research teams who are affiliated with the tobacco industry, or who receive (or are applying for) funding from the tobacco industry, which includes manufacturers and distributors of e-cigarettes or vaping products.</li>
</ul>

We are soliciting applications that contribute to development of vaginal formulations that promote optimal drug delivery within the vaginal compartment while positively supporting the vaginal milieu, and that also possess beneficial effects, even if unrelated to the API intended effect, that a user might consider desirable, such as enhancement of sexual pleasure.

Accelerating Innovation in Vaginal Formulations in Support of Womens Health

Note that this RFP is being launched by multiple partners, across variable geographies, topic areas, and funding levels. Please review the requirements for each RFP to determine your eligibility. The individual RFPs are listed separately <a href="https://gcgh.grandchallenges.org/challenges/JTdCJTIyc29ydCUyMiUzQSUyMmRlc2NlbmRpbmclMjIlMkMlMjJzb3J0RmllbGQlMjIlM0ElMjJkYXRlJTIyJTJDJTIybnVtYmVyUGVyUGFnZSUyMiUzQTEwJTJDJTIycGFnZU51bWJlciUyMiUzQTAlN0Q=/JTdCJTIyeWVhcnMlMjIlM0ElNUIlNUQlMkMlMjJjaGFsbGVuZ2VzJTIyJTNBJTVCJTIyMzI1JTIyJTVEJTJDJTIydGVybXMlMjIlM0ElNUIlNUQlMkMlMjJpbml0aWF0aXZlcyUyMiUzQSU1QiU1RCUyQyUyMmxvY2F0aW9ucyUyMiUzQSU1QiU1RCU3RA==" target="_blank">here</a>. If you are eligible for multiple RFPs, please choose the RFP that most closely aligns with your proposed project.<h2>Background</h2>Climate change threatens hard-earned global health and development progress and puts the health, well-being, and livelihoods of future generations in jeopardy, with a special impact on women. The 2015 Paris Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals signaled a promise from global leaders to act - to limit global average temperature rise to within 1.5°C by 2040 and prevent the worst health and development effects of climate change. While no one is safe from these risks, the people whose health and wellbeing are being harmed first and worst by the climate crisis are also the ones who contribute least to its causes, and who are least able to protect themselves and their families against it - namely people in low-income and disadvantaged countries and communities. In low-income settings, rising heat, extreme weather events, changes in precipitation patterns, climate-related undernutrition, shifts in duration and climate-event-driven surges of malaria and other vector borne diseases such as malaria,&nbsp;foodborne and water-borne diseases, and increased potential for the emergence of novel diseases damage already weak primary health care systems and community structures for health. This compromises accessibility, availability, provision, and uptake of essential health services for the most vulnerable populations. Climate change can also disproportionately affect the health and financial well-being of women and girls: extreme heat increases the incidences of stillbirth, the rampant spread of vector-borne diseases worsens maternal and neonatal outcomes, and gender disparities amplified by climate change can decrease the women's share of economic agricultural gains. Those same changes in climate and weather also negatively impact all aspects of agricultural activities, a major source of income for those in low-income settings.Catalytic research and development (R&amp;D) as well as innovations to scale the impact of existing green technologies are essential to cut greenhouse gas emissions to net-zero and address the unprecedented health, agricultural and environmental challenges posed by climate change, which have an outsized impact on women. It is crucial to understand the emerging problems in health and agriculture, either directly triggered by climate change, or as a result of disruptions (e.g., operational) downstream of crises created by climate change. Consequently, there is an urgent need to invest in creative solutions to help vulnerable populations adapt and build their resilience to the existing and future climate related challenges impacting health and agriculture and build alternative livelihoods. This work will involve making those most affected, especially women, major stakeholders in discussions about how new climate resistant and adaptive innovations will be deployed, as well as giving them a deliberate choice and advantage in the creation of new economic opportunities that result from these investments.In recent years, global leaders, philanthropies, and private investors have begun committing significant resources to climate change mitigation R&amp;D. However, more is needed to unite partners across sectors and accelerate innovations addressing challenges at the intersections of climate, health, gender, and agriculture, particularly for underserved regions and groups.The Grand Challenges family of initiatives seeks to source and seed innovations and accelerate the development of transformational solutions. To this end, Grand Challenges (GC) partners including GC Africa (Science for Africa Foundation), GC Brazil (Ministry of Health of Brazil), GC Ethiopia (Armauer Hansen Research Institute (AHRI)), GC India (Department of Biotechnology of India), and GC Rwanda (National Council for Science and Technology), along with the Bill &amp; Melinda Gates Foundation and the Pasteur Network, and supported by Wellcome, Foundation S-the Sanofi Collective, and the Rockefeller Foundation are launching this request for proposals (RFP) to identify and support promising innovations.

Grand Challenges Africa: Accelerating Catalyzing Solutions for Climate Change's Impact on Health, and Gender

Note that this RFP is being launched by multiple partners, across variable geographies, topic areas, and funding levels. Please review the requirements for each RFP to determine your eligibility. The individual RFPs are listed separately <a href="https://gcgh.grandchallenges.org/grant-opportunities" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">here</a>. If you are eligible for multiple RFPs, please choose the RFP that most closely aligns with your proposed project.
<h2>Background</h2>
Climate change threatens hard-earned global health and development progress and puts the health, well-being, and livelihoods of future generations in jeopardy, with a special impact on women. The 2015 Paris Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals signaled a promise from global leaders to act - to limit global average temperature rise to within 1.5°C by 2040 and prevent the worst health and development effects of climate change. While no one is safe from these risks, the people whose health and wellbeing are being harmed first and worst by the climate crisis are also the ones who contribute least to its causes, and who are least able to protect themselves and their families against it - namely people in low-income and disadvantaged countries and communities. In low-income settings, rising heat, extreme weather events, changes in precipitation patterns, climate-related undernutrition, shifts in duration and climate-event-driven surges of malaria and other vector borne diseases such as malaria,&nbsp;foodborne and water-borne diseases, and increased potential for the emergence of novel diseases damage already weak primary health care systems and community structures for health. This compromises accessibility, availability, provision, and uptake of essential health services for the most vulnerable populations. Climate change can also disproportionately affect the health and financial well-being of women and girls: extreme heat increases the incidences of stillbirth, the rampant spread of vector-borne diseases worsens maternal and neonatal outcomes, and gender disparities amplified by climate change can decrease the women's share of economic agricultural gains. Those same changes in climate and weather also negatively impact all aspects of agricultural activities, a major source of income for those in low-income settings.
Catalytic research and development (R&amp;D) as well as innovations to scale the impact of existing green technologies are essential to cut greenhouse gas emissions to net-zero and address the unprecedented health, agricultural and environmental challenges posed by climate change, which have an outsized impact on women. It is crucial to understand the emerging problems in health and agriculture, either directly triggered by climate change, or as a result of disruptions (e.g., operational) downstream of crises created by climate change. Consequently, there is an urgent need to invest in creative solutions to help vulnerable populations adapt and build their resilience to the existing and future climate related challenges impacting health and agriculture and build alternative livelihoods. This work will involve making those most affected, especially women, major stakeholders in discussions about how new climate resistant and adaptive innovations will be deployed, as well as giving them a deliberate choice and advantage in the creation of new economic opportunities that result from these investments.
In recent years, global leaders, philanthropies, and private investors have begun committing significant resources to climate change mitigation R&amp;D. However, more is needed to unite partners across sectors and accelerate innovations addressing challenges at the intersections of climate, health, gender, and agriculture, particularly for underserved regions and groups.
The Grand Challenges family of initiatives seeks to source and seed innovations and accelerate the development of transformational solutions. To this end, Grand Challenges (GC) partners including GC Africa (Science for Africa Foundation), GC Brazil (Ministry of Health of Brazil), GC Ethiopia (Armauer Hansen Research Institute (AHRI)), GC India (Department of Biotechnology of India), and GC Rwanda (National Council for Science and Technology), along with the Bill &amp; Melinda Gates Foundation and the Pasteur Network, and supported by Wellcome, Foundation S-the Sanofi Collective, and the Rockefeller Foundation are launching this request for proposals (RFP) to identify and support promising innovations.

This Grand Challenges request for proposals seeks innovative research and pilot/feasibility projects utilizing transdisciplinary approaches to better adapt to, mitigate, or reverse the combined, deleterious effects of climate change on health, women's lives, and agriculture in the geographies of interest. These innovations include early warning and disease surveillance systems to respond to climate-event-driven surges in malaria and other vector borne diseases, as well as improved mapping of expanded vector ranges and vector-borne disease transmission.

Grand Challenges Africa: Accelerating Catalyzing Solutions for Climate Change's Impact on Health and Gender

Grand Challenges Africa Accelerating Catalyzing Solutions for Climate Changes Impact on Health and Gender

<h2>Background</h2>Artificial Intelligence (AI) has significant potential to transform healthcare around the world. But as AI technology continues to advance, there is an urgent need to position low- and middle-income countries<a href="#_ftn1" title="" id="_ftnref1" name="_ftnref1">[i]</a> (LMICs) to lead on the design and co-creation of AI-enabled technologies – thereby helping to improve the health and well-being of their women, children, and vulnerable communities. Through this call for proposal, we are emphasizing AI solutions that are locally driven and owned hence more relevant to address the needs of people they intend to serve and more likely to be accepted and used by local communities.Responsible global use of AI entails a safe, equitable, transparent, reliable, and beneficial process that is adhered to with a high level of accountability. As the world rapidly moves to seize AI's opportunities, it is imperative to monitor and mitigate the safety, ethical, equity, and reliability dimensions of AI deployment. This will allow the enormous resilience, creativity, and commitment of researchers, scientists, and policymakers to capture the full capability of AI for lasting good.Grand Challenges (GC) partners including GC Brazil, GC Ethiopia, GC India, GC Senegal, GC South Africa, and GC Africa (pan-African), along with the Bill &amp; Melinda Gates Foundation, the Patrick J. McGovern Foundation, and the Pasteur Network, have jointly discussed the need for an equitable and responsible approach to the use of AI and specifically Large Language Models (LLMs) in LMICs. This call by the various GC partners is a follow-up to the initial call by the Bill &amp; Melinda Gates Foundation representing collaborative steps towards identifying, nurturing, and catalyzing the creativity, energy, and skills that researchers, implementers, governments, and technical partners have demonstrated in solving specific challenges in their countries and regions through LLMs. We are optimistic that this family of related AI RFPs will provide a platform for potentially transformative solutions to improve the lives and conditions for numerous vulnerable communities.Note that this request for proposals is being launched by six Grand Challenges partners: African researchers located in Ethiopia, Senegal, and South Africa, should apply through the corresponding country specific Grand Challenges portal; African researchers located in all other African countries should apply through the Grand Challenges Africa portal; Brazilian researchers located in Brazilian organizations should apply through the Grand Challenges Brazil portal; and Indian researchers located in Indian organizations should apply through the Grand Challenges India portal. Eligible Pasteur Network sites located in Africa should apply through Grand Challenges Africa and Pasteur Network sites located in Brazil should apply through Grand Challenges Brazil. All other eligible Pasteur Network sites (not located in Africa or Brazil) should apply through Grand Challenges Senegal. Please consult the information provided in the subsection referencing geography of interest on the linked partner site to ensure that your application fits the requirements of the RFP you are applying to._______________________________________________________<a href="#_ftnref1" title="" id="_ftn1" name="_ftn1">[i]</a> See <a href="https://data.worldbank.org/country/XO" target="_blank">World Bank – Low Income Countries</a> for definitions.

Grand Challenges Africa: Catalyzing Equitable Artificial Intelligence (AI) Use to Improve Global Health

<h2>Background</h2>
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has significant potential to transform healthcare around the world. But as AI technology continues to advance, there is an urgent need to position low- and middle-income countries<a href="#_ftn1" title name="_ftnref1" id="_ftnref1">[i]</a> (LMICs) to lead on the design and co-creation of AI-enabled technologies – thereby helping to improve the health and well-being of their women, children, and vulnerable communities. Through this call for proposal, we are emphasizing AI solutions that are locally driven and owned hence more relevant to address the needs of people they intend to serve and more likely to be accepted and used by local communities.
Responsible global use of AI entails a safe, equitable, transparent, reliable, and beneficial process that is adhered to with a high level of accountability. As the world rapidly moves to seize AI's opportunities, it is imperative to monitor and mitigate the safety, ethical, equity, and reliability dimensions of AI deployment. This will allow the enormous resilience, creativity, and commitment of researchers, scientists, and policymakers to capture the full capability of AI for lasting good.
Grand Challenges (GC) partners including GC Brazil, GC Ethiopia, GC India, GC Senegal, GC South Africa, and GC Africa (pan-African), along with the Bill &amp; Melinda Gates Foundation, the Patrick J. McGovern Foundation, and the Pasteur Network, have jointly discussed the need for an equitable and responsible approach to the use of AI and specifically Large Language Models (LLMs) in LMICs. This call by the various GC partners is a follow-up to the initial call by the Bill &amp; Melinda Gates Foundation representing collaborative steps towards identifying, nurturing, and catalyzing the creativity, energy, and skills that researchers, implementers, governments, and technical partners have demonstrated in solving specific challenges in their countries and regions through LLMs. We are optimistic that this family of related AI RFPs will provide a platform for potentially transformative solutions to improve the lives and conditions for numerous vulnerable communities.
Note that this request for proposals is being launched by six Grand Challenges partners: African researchers located in Ethiopia, Senegal, and South Africa, should apply through the corresponding country specific Grand Challenges portal; African researchers located in all other African countries should apply through the Grand Challenges Africa portal; Brazilian researchers located in Brazilian organizations should apply through the Grand Challenges Brazil portal; and Indian researchers located in Indian organizations should apply through the Grand Challenges India portal. Eligible Pasteur Network sites located in Africa should apply through Grand Challenges Africa and Pasteur Network sites located in Brazil should apply through Grand Challenges Brazil. All other eligible Pasteur Network sites (not located in Africa or Brazil) should apply through Grand Challenges Senegal. Please consult the information provided in the subsection referencing geography of interest on the linked partner site to ensure that your application fits the requirements of the RFP you are applying to.
_______________________________________________________
<a href="#_ftnref1" title name="_ftn1" id="_ftn1">[i]</a> See <a href="https://data.worldbank.org/country/XO" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">World Bank – Low Income Countries</a> for definitions.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has significant potential to transform healthcare around the world. But as AI technology continues to advance, there is an urgent need to position low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) to lead on the design and co-creation of AI-enabled technologies – thereby helping to improve the health and well-being of their women, children, and vulnerable communities. Through this call for proposal, we are emphasizing AI solutions that are locally driven and owned hence more relevant to address the needs of people they intend to serve and more likely to be accepted and used by local communities.

Grand Challenges Africa Catalyzing Equitable Artificial Intelligence (AI) Use to Improve Global Health

This Challenge seeks innovative approaches to enhance climate adaptation for agriculture in Africa in ways that link directly with and strengthen the ecosystem of local actors and institutions. Specifically, the objective of the challenge will be to support innovations that strengthen agriculture-related risk management processes and adaptation prioritization, planning, and investment, through intra-Africa research collaboration on data, data science, and modeling.

For more information, please visit the <a href="https://scienceforafrica.foundation/funding" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Grand Challenges Africa</a> website; to apply to this request for proposals, use the link to the right.

African Agriculture Climate Adaptation Research System

This Challenge seeks innovative approaches to enhance climate adaptation for agriculture in Africa in ways that link directly with and strengthen the ecosystem of local actors and institutions. Specifically, the objective of the challenge will be to support innovations that strengthen agriculture-related risk management processes and adaptation prioritization, planning, and investment, through intra-Africa research collaboration on data, data science, and modeling.
For more information, please visit the <a href="https://scienceforafrica.foundation/funding" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Grand Challenges Africa</a> website; to apply to this request for proposals, use the link to the right.

This Challenge seeks innovative approaches to enhance climate adaptation for agriculture in Africa in ways that link directly with and strengthen the ecosystem of local actors and institutions. Specifically, the objective of the challenge will be to support innovations that strengthen agriculture-related risk management processes and adaptation prioritization, planning, and investment, through intra-Africa research collaboration on data, data science, and modeling.

This Challenge seeks innovations that contribute to the development of safe and effective non-hormonal contraceptives that meet the needs and interests of women and that address key barriers in accessing and using currently available methods. We are seeking non-hormonal contraceptives that are easy to access, discreet, convenient, and non-invasive. Additionally, it is important that these methods have tolerable side effects and do not impact the menstrual cycle.

For more information, please visit the <a href="https://scienceforafrica.foundation/funding" target="_blank">Grand Challenges Africa</a> website; to apply to this request for proposals, use the link to the right.

Strengthening the Contraceptive Research and Development Ecosystem in Africa: Accelerating Innovations in Non-Hormonal Contraception for Women

This Challenge seeks innovations that contribute to the development of safe and effective non-hormonal contraceptives that meet the needs and interests of women and that address key barriers in accessing and using currently available methods. We are seeking non-hormonal contraceptives that are easy to access, discreet, convenient, and non-invasive. Additionally, it is important that these methods have tolerable side effects and do not impact the menstrual cycle.
For more information, please visit the <a href="https://scienceforafrica.foundation/funding" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Grand Challenges Africa</a> website; to apply to this request for proposals, use the link to the right.

This Challenge seeks innovations that contribute to the development of safe and effective non-hormonal contraceptives that meet the needs and interests of women and that address key barriers in accessing and using currently available methods. We are seeking non-hormonal contraceptives that are easy to access, discreet, convenient, and non-invasive. Additionally, it is important that these methods have tolerable side effects and do not impact the menstrual cycle.

Strengthening the Contraceptive Research and Development Ecosystem in Africa Accelerating Innovations in Non-Hormonal Contraception for Women

<h2>Background</h2>

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought unprecedented challenges for Africa, with every country potentially at risk for unmitigated spread of SARS-CoV-2. Like most health systems in the world, there is a significant risk for current levels of care to be overwhelmed by sheer volume of patients requiring intensive care and ventilatory support. In addition, health care workers are at risk of acquiring SARS-CoV-2 and given limited infection control practices in many settings, there is also risk of nosocomial transmission of SARS-CoV-2 among patients.

The emergence of new SARS-CoV-2 variants is further raising concerns of the possibility of re-infection among those previously infected with the 'wild type' virus. A recent survey conducted by the African Academy of Sciences Scientific Priority setting initiative found that the most important questions that African scientists, health care workers and public health officials should study included the detailed epidemiology and transmission dynamics in African settings, as well as infection prevention and control for health care workers. These are questions that are widely applicable across the continent yet require local context and expertise to address in a timely and effective manner.

Pathogen genomic sequencing (PGS) has been increasingly used in wealthy countries to help respond to outbreaks of infectious diseases, from MDR bacteria to Ebola to Yellow Fever, Measles, and Polio. Already, PGS has been shown to be important in understanding the transmission dynamics and epidemiology of SARS-CoV-2 in the US, Europe, and China. PGS has been used for outbreak size estimation based on phylodynamic analyses and to identify and characterize new variants.

The emergence of new SARS-CoV-2 variants in multiple locations across the world, including in Africa, has highlighted the need for genomic sequencing in surveillance and epidemiology. PGS has enabled the identification of emergent strains and provided the ability to monitor their spread. Genomic data has allowed for characterization of mutations, providing insights into possible mechanistic changes and biological implications. These insights provide the first clue of potential impact on the effectiveness of therapeutics, such as monoclonal antibodies, and vaccines that may warrant further investigation. Furthermore, the ability for genomic sequencing to differentiate which SARS-CoV-2 variant someone has been infected with, makes PGS an important tool for aiding in the investigation of changes to transmissibility and impact on clinical outcomes of new variants.

Genomic sequencing of SARS-CoV-2 can also help in effectively managing and controlling the epidemic in the continent by providing information to allow a precise identification of transmission clusters and of mutations of the virus. The information obtained can also help in tailoring new vaccine and/or treatment efforts within Africa by for example combining genetic, clinical, and epidemiological data.

Contrary to initial models and forecasts, the reported number of cases and mortality rates reflect a markedly less severe epidemiologic picture of COVID-19 in Africa. Consequently, SARS-CoV-2 sequencing (COVID-19 genomics) may also shed some light on the underlying factors possibly explaining these differences between Africa and those other parts of the world. It is important to note that human genomics will not be covered by this call. Furthermore, sequencing can help to monitor and characterize the changes to the genetic epidemiology of the COVID-19 pandemic after vaccine introduction. Unfortunately, PGS is not in widespread use in Africa. A rapid introduction of PGS in Africa will help in the fight to control SARS-CoV-2 and help prepare the continent for the next epidemic not yet identified.

Over the past three years, the Africa CDC has established expertise in PGS. In 2020 along with partners, Africa CDC launched the Africa Pathogen Genomics Initiative, which will include many activities to strengthen the capacity for and public health use of PGS in Africa. One such activity is the development of a continental laboratory network that will eventually have advanced sequencing capacity at national public health institutes across at least 20 African countries. Africa CDC has the mandate and vision to bring together African thought leaders in PGS in a coherent and sustainable peer network through the pan-continent Africa Pathogen Genomics Initiative. The challenge will support the parallel development of a cadre of African scientists and public laboratories who can contribute substantively to this initiative.

<h2>The Challenge</h2>

Grand Challenges Africa, in partnership with the Bill &amp; Melinda Gates Foundation and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) invites proposals that will primarily support public-health-use cases of PGS in African settings to respond to the Covid-19 pandemic. Grand Challenges Africa (GC Africa) is a program that seeks to promote Africa-led scientific innovations to help countries better achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by awarding seed and full grants to the continent's most impressive solutions and has covered topics such as Data Science Approaches to Improve Maternal and Child Health in Africa, Innovation for WASH (Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene) in Urban Settings, &amp; Drug Discovery. Through this partnership, we seek to make awards that will support increased understanding of SARS-CoV-2 in Africa for use in public health decision making.

Specifically, the objectives of the challenge will be:

<ol>
	<li>Use of PGS to establish routine genomic surveillance and understand the epidemiology and transmission of SARS-CoV-2</li>
	<li>Use of PGS in public health field epidemiology response for SARS-CoV-2 to investigate new virus variants and their impact on the epidemiology of Covid-19</li>
	<li>Use of PGS to monitor the impact of vaccine introduction on the epidemiology of SARS-CoV-2 in terms of transmission dynamics and/or incidence of virus variants.</li>
	<li>Use PGS to inform the development of diagnostics and/or therapeutics and/or monitor the impact of new product introduction.</li>
</ol>

Projects addressing more than one challenge (e.g. clinical and field epidemiology) are encouraged. In some geographies many of these challenges exist simultaneously, at different times for different populations; in other geographies only one or two of these challenges predominate. Applications should clearly state which of these challenges is being targeted and provide clear rationale for why the project is likely to address the challenge.

Applications should also state how the knowledge generated from their proposal would be produced in a timely manner in order to inform public health decision making. We expect that PGS data on SARS-CoV-2 will be shared immediately with local government health officials as well as uploaded to a standard repository for genetic data such as GISAID, NCBI or ENA, all in compliance with applicable data protection laws. Such sharing is important for the public health response locally but also globally.

Responding to the above challenges requires a multidisciplinary approach. Thus, collaborative work is highly encouraged.

What we are looking for:

We will highly preference funding for projects in national public health institutes or other public laboratories with links to the public health systems that focus on pathogen genomic sequencing.

All applications should:

<ul>
	<li>Describe how laboratory and staff can immediately put to use PGS technology at your site to respond to at least one of the challenges listed above.</li>
	<li>Describe how the data generated from your project will be used to inform public health decision making in your country and/or region in a timely manner. How will you communicate your findings and engage with stakeholders to ensure uptake and use of your findings for these public health purposes?</li>
	<li>Given the fast-moving nature of the research field into SARS-CoV-2, how will you ensure that the results that your work produces are timely, and the question being addressed is still relevant at the time when the results are available.</li>
	<li>Describe the sampling approach for obtaining specimens for genomic sequencing and how the sampling approach will be optimized to answer at least one of the challenges outlined above. In addition, describe how metadata and clinical, epidemiological or other data will be collected and combined with the PGS data to answer at least one of the challenges listed above.</li>
	<li>Articulate how the capacity built through the proposed project will strengthen your institute’s approach to using PGS for surveillance beyond the covid-19 pandemic.</li>
</ul>

A few of the many options we will consider include (but are not limited to) support for:

<ul>
	<li>Laboratory equipment, supplies and reagents needed for next generation pathogen genomic sequencing (PGS). Centers with Sanger sequencing capabilities can also apply.</li>
	<li>Field supplies for sample collection, transportation, storage and preparation.</li>
	<li>Collection of linked epidemiological data and meta-data.</li>
	<li>Laptop or computer with appropriate software for the analysis; high speed internet access and cloud compute time, if not provided through the Africa CDC lab network.</li>
	<li>Salary for personnel (including for example laboratory personnel, epidemiologist, field staff to collect samples).</li>
	<li>Training specific for PGS technology or bioinformatics, either online or in person.</li>
	<li>Travel to Africa CDC to support network development or to present findings at an international conference.</li>
	<li>Costs for high performance computing, where applicable.</li>
</ul>

We will not consider funding for projects that do not primarily respond to SARS-CoV-2 public health response. Human genomics will not be covered by this call.

NOTE: This opportunity was open to an invited set of African investigators.

Covid-19 Pathogen Genomic Sequencing (PGS) in Africa

Note: This call for applications was targeted at persons already holding a grant or a sub-grant in the DELTAS Africa, Grand Challenges Africa, H3Africa, FLAIR or any other program of the AAS.

<h2>BACKGROUND</h2>

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought unprecedented challenges for Africa, with every country potentially at risk for unmitigated spread of SARS-CoV2. Like most health systems in the world, there is a risk for current levels of care to be overwhelmed by sheer volume of patients requiring intensive care and ventilatory support. In addition, health care workers are at risk of acquiring SARS-CoV2 and given limited infection control practices in many settings, there is also risk of nosocomial transmission of SARS-CoV2 among patients.

The African Academy of Sciences (AAS) is keen to play a central role in building African Research and Development (R&amp;D) capacity to fight COVID-19 by managing day-to-day running of the proposed fund for COVID-19 R&amp;D priorities in Africa. A recent survey of African scientists conducted by the AAS developed initially from an AAS "All Hands" webinar on COVID-19 held on 26th March 2020 and conducted from the 4th to 8th of April 2020 established a priority list of Research and Development questions for the COVID-19 outbreak in Africa. The <a href="https://gcgh.grandchallenges.org/sites/default/files/files/research-and-development-goals-for-covid-19-in-africa.pdf" target="_blank">results of the survey can be found here.</a>

This call, supported by Sida (Sweden), Wellcome Trust, and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, is, therefore, a call to action for African scientists to attend to the research and development needs of the COVID-19 outbreak for the continent as identified by African scientists. There is need to provide robust scientific evidence to the country emergency response teams. The priorities listed are widely applicable across the continent yet require local context and expertise in order to address in a timely and effective manner the issues arising even as the outbreak evolves.

The call is open to institutions that are based in Africa.

<h2>Objective</h2>

This call will focus on areas of priority for research and development in COVID-19 outbreak control as identified by African scientists. These areas of focus include but are not limited to;

<ul>
	<li>Epidemiological studies;</li>
	<li>Clinical management;</li>
	<li>Infection prevention and control, including health care protection;</li>
	<li>Candidate vaccines, diagnostics and therapeutics;</li>
	<li>Ethical considerations for research;</li>
	<li>Social sciences in a pandemic response.</li>
</ul>

To be more specific, below is an example of priority questions for this call. Questions that seek to deliver any of the below will be prioritized. For reference please check the <a href="https://gcgh.grandchallenges.org/sites/default/files/files/research-and-development-goals-for-covid-19-in-africa.pdf" target="_blank">results of the AAS COVID-19 survey here</a>.

<ul>
	<li>Understand the effectiveness of movement control strategies to prevent secondary transmission in health care and community settings;</li>
	<li>Optimize the effectiveness of PPE and its use in reducing the risk of transmission in health care and community settings;</li>
	<li>Develop new PPE approaches using local materials and manufacturing processes;</li>
	<li>Understand behavioral and cultural factors influencing compliance with evidence-based Infection Prevention and Control measures;</li>
	<li>Describe the transmission dynamics of COVID-19 and understand the spread of disease nationally, regionally and globally;</li>
	<li>Describe disease severity and susceptibility to facilitate effective clinical and public health response to COVID-19 identify groups at high risk of severe infection;</li>
	<li>Perform rapid population cross-sectional surveys to establish the extent of virus transmission using a standardized sampling framework;</li>
	<li>Establish suitable cohorts and prospectively collect laboratory and outcome data;</li>
	<li>Have a special focus on potentially at-risk groups including malnourished individuals and people with HIV, TB, Sickle Cell, and uncontrolled chronic disease patients;</li>
	<li>Evaluate the impact of control and mitigation measures e.g., modelling to estimate the effects of social distancing measures and other non-pharmaceutical interventions;</li>
	<li>Develop protocols for the management of severe disease in the absence of intensive care facilities;</li>
	<li>Determine interventions that improve the clinical outcome of COVID-19 infected patients;</li>
	<li>Determine optimal clinical practice strategies to improve the processes of care e.g., develop criteria for early diagnosis, when to discharge, when to use adjuvant therapies for patients and contacts;</li>
	<li>Develop innovative approaches to use as alternatives to ventilation;</li>
	<li>Identify prognostic factors for severe disease;</li>
	<li>Develop platform(s) to maximize the commonality of data collection across trials, and collaborations between trials;</li>
	<li>Define the natural history of COVID-19 infection through careful standardized and comprehensive clinical and laboratory description of cases;</li>
	<li>Determine how best to link key research questions with researchers in affected regions who are able to recruit patients;</li>
	<li>Develop mechanisms to support coordinated collaboration to implement clinical trials for evaluation of safety/efficacy of therapeutics;</li>
	<li>Develop a Multicenter Master Protocol to evaluate efficacy and safety;</li>
	<li>Identification of existing candidates for clinical evaluation in addition to the ones already prioritized;</li>
	<li>Support basic science to identify new drug targets;</li>
	<li>Develop a multi-country Master Protocol for Phase 2b/Phase 3 vaccine evaluation to determine whether candidate vaccines are safe and effective before widespread distribution;</li>
	<li>Build capacity development for basic science and pre-clinical development of new vaccines;</li>
	<li>Identify therapeutic candidates for clinical evaluation in addition to the ones already prioritized;</li>
	<li>Establish processes for speeding up an ethical review of COVID-19 related research proposals;</li>
	<li>Establish a panel of African ethicists to provide rapid support to local ethical committees assessing COVID-19 related research proposals;</li>
	<li>Define a research governance framework that enables effective and ethical collaboration between multiple stakeholders, including WHO, the global research community, subject matter experts, public health officials, funders, and ethicists;</li>
	<li>Sustained education, access, and capacity building to facilitate effective cross-working and collaboration across the research thematic areas;</li>
	<li>Identify key knowledge gaps and research priorities in relation to ethical issues arising out of proposed restrictive public health measures (e.g., quarantine, isolation, cordon sanitaire);</li>
	<li>Support work to develop cheaper, faster easier to use in field antigen tests (for virus detection);</li>
	<li>Support work to develop cheaper, faster easier to use in field antibody tests (for determining exposure);</li>
	<li>Support the development of diagnostics products to improve clinical processes;</li>
	<li>Support work to examine alternative approaches to delivering testing e.g., centralized versus devolved lab facilities;</li>
	<li>Characterize immunity (naturally acquired, population and vaccine-induced, including mucosal immunity);</li>
	<li>Develop tools and conduct studies to monitor phenotypic change and potential adaptation of the virus;</li>
	<li>Establish capacity for genotyping virus e.g., to detect new mutations over time;</li>
	<li>Pathogen genetic sequencing and network development that primarily responds to SARS-CoV-2 public health response <a href="https://gcgh.grandchallenges.org/sites/default/files/files/aas_pathogen_genetic_sequencing_information_for_the_covid-19_call_01052020.pdf" target="_blank">according to this document</a>;</li>
	<li>Determine virus stability in the environment;</li>
	<li>Understand virus compartments, shedding and natural history of the disease;</li>
	<li>Develop disease models in animals;</li>
	<li>Examine optimal ways of communicating about potential interventions in high-density low socioeconomic status urban settings;</li>
	<li>Ensure that knowledge is produced according to local, national and regional needs;</li>
	<li>Investigate ways of ensuring transparency of information flow and mitigating false information spread by various mechanisms;</li>
	<li>Develop guidelines and Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) to operationalize epidemic mitigation mechanisms;</li>
	<li>Engage with communities to bring their voices to decision-making processes;</li>
	<li>Develop and connect global research networks with response partners;</li>
	<li>Understand how social and economic impacts need to be mitigated;</li>
	<li>Investigate innovative approaches to short-term economic support of vulnerable populations such as cash transfer by mobile money mechanisms;</li>
	<li>Promote the prioritization of knowledge needs according to epidemic dynamics;</li>
	<li>Develop innovative interdisciplinary science;</li>
	<li>Ensure that non-social scientists easily understand knowledge outputs and methodological limitations;</li>
	<li>Support work to understand the non-intended consequences of epidemic-control decisions;</li>
	<li>Support work to understand contextual vulnerability of work in COVID-19 outbreak control;</li>
	<li>Understand how decisions in the field may inadvertently undermine response goals;</li>
	<li>Design and test suitable risk reduction strategies at the human-animal-environment interface;</li>
	<li>Improve the understanding of socioeconomic and behavioral risk factors for spill-over and transmission between animals and humans;</li>
	<li>Identify animal source and route of transmission (hosts, any evidence of continued spill-over to humans and transmission between animals and humans).</li>
</ul>

We will not consider funding for:

<ul>
	<li>Projects that do not primarily respond to the research and development goals of the COVID-19 public health outbreak response;</li>
	<li>Projects focusing on implementation or delivery services for the COVID-19 outbreak control;</li>
	<li>Projects solely focused on network building, capacity building and infrastructure projects without a working hypothesis;</li>
	<li>Complex and high-risk projects that cannot be undertaken within the 24 months available;</li>
	<li>Projects with minimal contribution towards the R&amp;D priorities of the COVID-19 outbreak.</li>
</ul>

Funding Amount

The maximum amount allowable for a single grant is US$200,000 to be held for two (2) years.

COVID-19 Research and Development Priorities in Africa

Preamble

The African Academy of Sciences (AAS), the <a href="https://www.bmbf.de/bmbf/en/home/home_node.html" target="_blank">German Federal Ministry of Education and Research</a> (Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung, BMBF) and the <a href="https://www.gatesfoundation.org/" target="_blank">Bill &amp; Melinda Gates Foundation</a> have come together in a transformative partnership to support African investigators to accelerate MNCH targets towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for health.

The first initiative of the partnership is to launch a new Grand Challenge: Focusing on top priorities for MNCH in Africa – solutions to meet the Sustainable Development Goal 3 targets for maternal, neonatal and child health.

<h2>The Challenge</h2>

This challenge focuses on the top priorities for MNCH in Africa 2019 and aligns with the findings of the MNCH research prioritization using The Child Health and Nutrition Research Initiative (CHNRI) process conducted in 2019 in Africa. CHNRI uses the principles of wisdom of the crowds to systematically collect and transparently score research options against important criteria in a particular field. In a three-stage democratic process lasting 7 months, the MNCH expert convening 2019, aggregated thoughts from MNCH experts working in Africa and showed that there is a need to concentrate on four areas of importance in MNCH that remain a grand challenge for Africa. These are:

<ul>
	<li>better health during pregnancy</li>
	<li>better care at birth</li>
	<li>better post-birth care for women and their newborns</li>
	<li>better hospital care of sick newborns</li>
</ul>

The aggregated research priorities are across the spectrum of health research and in all four domains of description (epidemiology), discovery (new interventions), development (improvement of existing interventions), and delivery (implementation research, including health systems).

This is, therefore, a call for proposals looking for big, bold, innovative ideas that can have the greatest impact on African maternal and neonatal health with the potential for future sustainability and scaling.

This will be the third maternal and neonatal child health call and the eighth call from GC Africa since its inception in 2016.

These grand challenges innovation grants will be issued and administered under the banner of Grand Challenges Africa (GC Africa), a program of the AAS implemented through the AAS funding and program management platform – the Alliance for Accelerating Excellence in Science in Africa (AESA), which was created in partnership with the <a href="https://www.nepad.org/" target="_blank">African Union Development Agency</a> (AUDA: formerly (NEPAD Agency) and global partners including the Bill &amp; Melinda Gates Foundation.

Funding for this call

GC Africa and partners will fund African investigators through this GC Africa Innovation Seed Grants' (GCA-ISG) call (round 8). Subject to the eligibility requirements in the GCA Rules &amp; Guidelines, African investigators are invited to apply, with the support of the primary organization where they are affiliated, and where the major part of the work will be undertaken. Applications MUST be submitted through the AAS Ishango Online Application Portal. Grants will go to institutions and investigators in African countries.

Though not a must, we encourage initiating South to South partnerships and partnerships between African lead PIs and co-investigators in Germany or other Northern countries especially where the opportunity exists to combine synergies and promote innovations in MNCH. New and existing collaborations will be welcomed.

Applicants can be at any level of experience and working in any discipline from organizations such as colleges and universities, government units, hospitals, research institutions, for-profit and non-profit organizations.

Funding levels

The GCA-ISG grants will fund projects up to USD $100,000 for 2 years. These awards are meant to provide an opportunity to test particularly bold, proof of concept ideas, including applying approaches from outside the fields indicated for this call. New approaches could be piloted as additions to ongoing projects. Winners of the GCA-ISG grants will have an opportunity to apply for follow-on, transition to scale funding in the future. Please note that support for phase II or transition to scale funding is NOT part of this call. Funded at up to $1 million per three-year project, phase II awards require substantial preliminary data and are meant to provide an opportunity to develop, refine, and rigorously test combinations of activities, including sets of interventions for which some or all have previously shown promise in controlled or limited settings. We expect that successful projects funded under this seed call, and which demonstrate promising results, will have the opportunity to apply for Phase II follow-on funding either to GC Africa or directly to our partners.

In all cases, individual project budgets should be representative of the scope and magnitude of the proposed studies and carefully designed to get the best possible value out of the award. The AAS does rigorous budget challenges during the due diligence process. The applicant’s recipient institution, organization or company will also be required to provide assurances on their capacity to manage the grant through detailed letters of support from the appropriate research or innovation support office, previous or current partners. The AAS reserves the right to undertake due diligence site visits to organizations hosting successful candidates before making final awards. Due diligence will include a request to fill out the Good Financial Grants Practice (GFGP) financial governance assessments to allow AAS to determine an institution's eligibility and capacities for managing the grant.

<h2>Background</h2>

While great strides have been made in reducing mortality in Africa, maternal and neonatal mortality rates remain unacceptably high. Estimates show that over half the global maternal deaths and over three-quarters of neonatal deaths occur in sub-Saharan Africa.

The WHO argues that "the major direct causes of maternal morbidity and mortality include hemorrhage, infection, high blood pressure, unsafe abortion, and obstructed labor. These complications may arise unexpectedly. Investing in health systems - especially in training midwives and in making emergency obstetric care available round-the-clock - is key to reducing maternal mortality".

The close relationship between mothers and their infants results in shared aetiologies and as a result, around half of the newborn deaths are due to mother transmitted infections, including tetanus. Critically, the risk of dying during the first day of life in Africa is close to 1% with the top three causes being infections, birth asphyxia and complications of preterm birth which together account for 88% of the newborn deaths. Effective interventions to help reduce this mortality would target the management of labor and delivery, preterm births, timely diagnosis and treatment of serious infectious diseases, malnutrition and non-communicable diseases in both mothers and children.

Addressing the barriers to the use of care and creating an environment within households and communities that support women in seeking the needed care is also key.

<h2>Program Goal</h2>

This call is focused on the SDG3 targets with the overall objective of focusing African scientists to work in local and global partnerships on the ambitious but achievable goals of accelerating knowledge generation, developing and deploying interventions and innovations. These should advance the prevention of maternal deaths, preterm birth, and neonatal deaths and improve the implementation of policies and innovations that will improve care for the mother and child in the first 1000 days of life. The ultimate goal of this challenge is to determine what packages of interventions should be delivered to which group of individuals (mother or infant or both) to reduce the burden of maternal and neonatal deaths in Africa. While new innovations and interventions are required, much progress can be made if we find innovative approaches to deliver already available interventions i.e., we will also be looking for proposals that focus on innovative approaches to deliver existing life-saving innovations.

This joint initiative of GC Africa partners (AAS, BMBF, and Gates foundation) also aims to nurture and strengthen the innovation ecosystem in Africa by supporting the development of sustainable research networks that will contribute to solving Africa's challenges in Global Health. We want to develop a community of African leaders in MNCH research and innovation; strengthen the development of innovative solutions facilitating the resolution of challenges in global health and development that Africa is facing; reinforce research and training capacity, and equitable partnerships in African institutions through skills transfer between international networks and organizations hosting the grand challenges projects; and facilitate sustainable multidisciplinary partnerships between research groups in Africa. Enable the adoption of new technologies, innovations and policies to prevent maternal and neonatal deaths.

<h2>Program Objectives</h2>

We are looking for innovations that:

<ol>
	<li>Package known interventions in a way that ensures they are delivered efficiently and cost-effectively and or promote MNCH in otherwise excluded communities.</li>
	<li>Apply new technologies to enable rapid identification of risks or management of conditions (communicable and non-communicable) that lead to poor outcomes in pregnancy, birth and in the first month of life.</li>
	<li>Apply precision medicine techniques to identify or manage common exposures in Africa that may increase susceptibility to communicable and non-communicable diseases in mothers and children under 5 years of age.</li>
</ol>

What We are Looking for

To reach these objectives, we are looking for projects that propose innovation in the following areas:

<ul>
	<li>Delivery tools: Innovative approaches or new ways to deliver already available interventions i.e., proposals that focus on packages / innovative approaches to deliver existing proven life-saving innovations</li>
	<li>Measurement tools: Pilot tests of new measurement tools, such as those based on a new technology or new biomarkers to enable the timely diagnosis, monitoring or management of maternal conditions that can lead to significant improvement of fetal and neonatal outcomes as well as prevent maternal mortality and morbidity.</li>
	<li>Analytical tools: Pilot tests of new analytical tools that use existing biorepositories or existing health and development databases for retrospective analysis.</li>
</ul>

We will give the highest priority to projects that:

<ul>
	<li>Build on ongoing work in some way, and that address well-identified barriers and constraints to delivery of interventions and to implementation of locally-relevant programs.</li>
	<li>Incorporate multiple areas of innovation listed above, e.g., developing and/or testing new, single or multiple products or candidates, especially sets of interventions targeting combinations of outcomes spanning the spectrum of objectives outlined above for this call.</li>
	<li>Clearly incorporate measures of success reasonable for the time span of the grant (18-24 months).</li>
	<li>Have a project plan where after two years- the end of phase I grant period- grantees will be in a position to explore how the results from their project could inform the design of a more extensive collaborative package of work that can be submitted for Phase II funding.</li>
	<li>Could contribute to a portfolio of funded projects that address a country’s key priorities or regional challenges</li>
	<li>Explain how proposed innovations and interventions will eventually be tested in communities so that they have the highest likelihood of being relevant for implementation more broadly in the country’s public health system.</li>
	<li>Respect diversity as well as gender equity and address the need to provide health equity for diverse vulnerable populations as captured by the SDG targets.</li>
	<li>Promote the career of young scientists.</li>
</ul>

Examples of what we will consider funding: 
Innovations that:

<ul>
	<li>address the handling of emergency obstetric and neonatal complications and or including the detection of danger signs by caregivers</li>
	<li>enhance the quality of care for sick newborns through early identification, monitoring and appropriate therapeutic measures for the management of neonatal sepsis</li>
	<li>provide rapid diagnosis of infectious pathogens that lead to preterm births</li>
	<li>determine the relationship between long term exposure to microbes (pathogens or not) and maternal and neonatal mortality</li>
	<li>encourage high coverage of known effective interventions to reduce maternal and neonatal mortality such as tetanus vaccination, antibiotic therapy to treat infections in mothers, screening for diabetes and hypertension</li>
	<li>use a systems approach to identify predictors of poor outcome in mothers and babies to allow for targeted interventions</li>
	<li>are aimed at understanding vaginal and neonatal microbiomes in relation to the burden of preterm birth sequelae, stunted postnatal growth, and impaired cognitive development as a result of alterations to the neonatal microbiomes</li>
	<li>improve training results and skills retention on obstetricians, GPs, and midwives</li>
	<li>feasible methods of delivery of the package for postpartum care at the community level</li>
	<li>determine the relation between the long-term treatment of chronic diseases such as HIV and poor neonatal outcomes</li>
	<li>improve maternal nutrition including micronutrients during pregnancy and its impact on intrauterine growth development and other neonatal outcomes</li>
	<li>design and test new algorithms, and point of care diagnostic tests for sepsis, including postnatal sepsis, for mothers and babies, care of sick newborns and children, in the face of new epidemic emergencies</li>
	<li>develop and test innovative and affordable means of monitoring labor progress including during contraction augmentation</li>
	<li>propose the most effective and more affordable tools to be deployed in the lowest level of health facilities to provide lifesaving care to sick neonates in African countries (e.g., availability of oxygen, functional newborn units)</li>
	<li>attract and retain skilled birth attendants in remote, rural areas</li>
	<li>improve the quality of care during labor in a cost-effective manner</li>
	<li>mitigate hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy and builds indicators predictive for long term neurodevelopmental outcomes</li>
	<li>improve the understanding between undiagnosed NCDs in pregnant women and complicated births and low birth weight</li>
	<li>enhance the effectiveness of task shifting and its impact on the quality of intrapartum care</li>
	<li>improve the attendance of women to ANC clinics especially in marginalized communities</li>
	<li>evaluate common metabolic disruptors/predictors such as glucose, acidosis, electrolytes</li>
	<li>utilize new strategies including biomarkers and point of care screening tools for comprehensive antenatal care and early detection of high-risk pregnancies (pre-eclampsia, prematurity, infections), and optimize preventive measures</li>
	<li>develop predictors of occurrence and severity of encephalopathies in Africa</li>
	<li>detect or manage the contributors to common problems that afford a treatment/prevention option like ABO/Rh blood typing, apnea/oxygen etc.</li>
	<li>measure fetal and sickle hemoglobin or early interventions to manage various aspects of the disease</li>
	<li>wearable sensors for Heart Rate /Respiratory Rate/BP/EEG/Temperature etc.</li>
	<li>improve timely second stages of delivery on pregnancy outcomes (PPH and birth asphyxia, obstetric fistula) and or proposes new ways of dealing with the conditions</li>
	<li>deliver solutions to underlying infections in pregnancy on pregnancy outcomes (abortions, Anemia, Preterm labor) and neonatal outcomes (Asphyxia, IUGR, prematurity, sepsis, mortality)</li>
</ul>

This call is not intended to support projects that focus on: 

<ul>
	<li>Basic research that does not provide a clear path to development and testing of prevention, diagnosis and treatment strategies</li>
	<li>Projects without the potential to expand in scale to provide solutions to a greater number or diversity of people</li>
	<li>Projects lacking metrics to determine success or failure and to allow decisions about the appropriateness of follow-on/phase II funding</li>
	<li>Solutions that are only variations of existing approaches e.g., replication of an approach in new geography in the absence of added innovation</li>
	<li>Projects that cannot be implemented in LMIC countries in Africa</li>
</ul>

Promoting Intra-African and global collaborations

We will promote scientific collaborations between African researchers, and between different organizations across the continent. Though not compulsory the call will encourage partnerships between African, German and by extension researchers in other parts of the globe. We will hold expert workshops in MNCH and encourage skills and data sharing between individually funded projects. We expect that such sharing will help to ensure that the goals of the innovative approaches in individual projects are ultimately integrated with each other. Furthermore, we expect that sharing experimental methods, data, and resources will ultimately improve the ability to compare and validate local research findings and to develop innovations, interventions, and products that can have an impact on a greater scale. The reviewers to this call will evaluate how well applications address these requirements and how well collaborations between researchers meet the basic criteria of equitable, sustainable partnerships that benefit all parties including benefits to communities most affected by the challenges in MNCH.

Collaborative efforts could include:

<ul>
	<li>Short visits: Where a team organizes to visit another for the sake of knowledge sharing and technology transfer. The costs for this should be included in the budget.</li>
	<li>Cohort harmonization: when collaborating with projects with existing cohorts or establishing new cohorts, investigators will be expected to participate, whenever possible, in cohort harmonization. Study sites will be expected to develop and follow standard operating procedures and quality control protocols for specimen collections and participate in the establishment of a minimum common set of data and specimens to be collected across the program.</li>
</ul>

Data sharing: Projects will submit a data sharing plan that is equitable, ethical, and efficient.

Top Priorities for Maternal, Neonatal, and Child Health in Africa

The <a href="https://www.aasciences.africa/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">African Academy of Sciences (AAS)</a>, the <a href="https://www.bmbf.de/en/index.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">German Federal Ministry of Education and Research</a> (Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung, BMBF) and the <a href="http://www.gatesfoundation.org" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Bill &amp; Melinda Gates Foundation</a> have come together in a transformative partnership to support African investigators to accelerate MNCH targets towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for health.

Top Priorities for Maternal Neonatal and Child Health in Africa

Data Science Approaches to Improve Maternal and Child Health in Africa

This request for proposals represents a partnership between the Bill &amp; Melinda Gates Foundation, <a href="https://www.unicef.org/innovation/" target="_blank">UNICEF</a>, <a href="http://www.arm.com" target="_blank">Arm</a>, and <a href="https://aasciences.africa/" target="_blank">The African Academy of Sciences (AAS)</a>. African entrants located in African organizations should apply through the <a href="https://www.aasciences.africa/Funding" target="_blank">Grand Challenges Africa (a program of The AAS) portal</a>; entrants located throughout the rest of the world should apply through the Bill &amp; Melinda Gates Foundation portal. At The AAS, this request for proposals is funded in partnership with the <a href="https://www.sida.se/en" target="_blank">Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA)</a>.<h2>THE OPPORTUNITY</h2>While there are several dimensions of rapid urbanization that demand innovative solutions, we see the main area of need emerging in Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH). Billions of people worldwide living in densely populated informal and/or low income urban settlements suffer from inadequate sanitation; 4.5 billion people lack access to sanitation altogether, with as many as one billion people worldwide defecating in the open, and an additional three billion using toilets from which the waste is not safely managed – meaning that either it is not safely contained or, once emptied, is not safely treated. Over sixty percent of the human waste that is collected in the developing world is discharged untreated into the environment.Clearly, there is a dire and pervasive need for awareness and information around: incidents of contamination, threats to delivery (e.g., from drought, heat waves, power outages), alternative approaches, emergency protocols, and overall monitoring of effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of the delivered service. Many solutions and delivery models already exist, and there is great opportunity to scale and redesign them to be effective in challenging urban contexts. Digital technology-based solutions can help bridge gaps and open doors – both online and on the ground – providing greater access to information, faster and more affordable communication, and expanded choices. For example, sensors placed strategically at different points in the value chain can collect and notify us of this type of information, whereas mapping platforms and ICT technologies can get that information to the right places for response and action.When deployed in the right way, emerging and existing technologies can be critical in shaping cities to be centers of liveability, productivity, opportunity, and growth for children and their communities. We know that cities are hubs of diversity, growth, and innovation, and they should provide boundless opportunities for young people to survive, thrive, learn, participate, integrate, and reach their full potential.<h2>THE CHALLENGE</h2>How can we find solutions to make it easier to access safe, clean water and sanitation services for the urban poor?We seek digital technology-based solutions that promote access to essential resources and services (clean water, sanitation) and can make a difference in reducing morbidity and mortality to promote healthy, safe, and productive lives. We know that technology does not automatically or inevitably improve people's lives; creative solutions must be contextually grounded and designed in response to on-the-ground needs of women, children, and families living in challenging urban environments.What We Are Looking For:Ideal solutions may target individuals, families, communities, urban planners, service providers, or WASH/ food infrastructure, networks, and systems. Solutions may include but are not limited to: services, models, or tools intended to improve overall access to WASH services and that apply a deeper understanding of our users' (customers/providers) needs when designing programs, services, and products/interventions. &nbsp;We seek solutions that are interactive, contextual, scalable, and relevant to WASH systems strengthening. We are specifically interested in work targeting: clean drinking water, household sanitation and hygiene, and urban pollution.Criteria for success include solutions that:<ul><li>Provide data/evidence for effective solutions that 1) reduce the barrier to entry, 2) verify performance of municipal water or sanitation utilities, and 3) improve service delivery</li><li>Broaden the toolkit of local solutions for urban areas to encourage municipalities, utility companies, and entrepreneurs to participate in creating and expanding access to services</li><li>Develop a system that integrates with monitoring systems (i.e., community health, water quality, etc.)</li><li>Have the potential to build on existing Public-Private or Public-Academic Partnerships, which will be essential to achieve results at scale</li><li>Are cost effective</li></ul>Potential solutions may respond to questions around how we might:<ul><li>Monitor the level of environmental contamination, bacteriological contamination, or service failure across urban contexts and map trends in real-time</li><li>Create new ways to collect, recycle, and dispose of domestic human waste and improve access to adequate services that ultimately lead to safely treated waste</li><li>Connect low-income urban settlement populations with reliable and affordable sanitation service delivery models, including monitoring systems</li><li>Set up remote operation and maintenance of existing urban WASH assets</li><li>Establish awareness programming to improve understanding of sanitation-related risks amongst dwellers in low income urban settlements</li><li>Integrate hygiene promotion programs with urban activities (such as marketplaces, schools, etc.)</li><li>Monitor sanitation infrastructure construction and conditions (latrines, wells, treatment systems, etc.)</li><li>Design monitoring and incentive models to increase compliance with regulatory requirements within decentralized or distributed treat/pre-treatment systems</li><li>Conduct groundwater mapping in affected drought areas</li><li>Fill the data gap on measuring the proportion of waste emptied from pits and septic tanks and taken to treatment, including:<ul><li>Tracking service providers (e.g., vacuum trucks, hand carts) from household to disposal site</li><li>Measuring sludge volumes delivered to treatment sites</li><li>Quantifying solids contents of sludge delivered to treatment plants</li><li>Quantifying treatment efficiency of fecal sludge treatment plants ("effective treatment")</li></ul></li></ul>Examples of types of solutions we want:<ul><li>Technologies that help improve or strengthen WASH quality, accessibility, delivery, distribution, and awareness and will support the most vulnerable children living in cities</li><li>Tools/platforms that connect urban communities with the tools, services, and relationships they need to measure, alert, organize, and respond to specific urban concerns</li><li>Tech-enabled tools that expand urban planning and policy processes (specifically those related to WASH concerns) to include vulnerable populations, especially youth</li><li>Generative data collection + analysis methodologies to improve our sense of what specific WASH problems exist where and for whom</li><li>Solutions may involve deepening understanding (moving towards proof of concept), and/or experimentation, and/or evaluating promising ongoing programs</li><li>New solutions for influencing people to behave differently in relationship to their hygiene (preventative and treatment seeking)</li><li>Solutions may target gaps in knowledge, gaps in delivery systems to meet demand for care, or bottlenecks blocking those with knowledge and demand from seeking services (access, cost, stigma, taboos, distance, etc.)</li></ul>We hope to see work that recognizes contextual constraints:<table><tbody><tr><td>Social/Cultural Constraints</td><td>High linguistic diversity Low digital and basic literacy rates Low involvement of vulnerable populations in planning and design processes</td></tr><tr><td>Political Constraints</td><td>Possibility of prohibitive security concerns Complexity of political systems can be hard to manage; need adequately designed policy frameworks</td></tr><tr><td>Economic Constraints</td><td>Unequal and limited access to financial and banking systems Budget uncertainty (for sustained operations) can be high when costs per person need to be low</td></tr><tr><td>Environmental Constraints</td><td>Harsh environmental conditions are the norm in many vulnerable urban areas (e.g., earthquake risk, extreme heat and wind, highly polluted/toxic conditions) Higher intensity and frequency of natural hazards</td></tr><tr><td>Infrastructural and Technical Constraints</td><td>Brittle mobile cellular networks <a href="http://reports.weforum.org/global-risks-2015/part-2-risks-in-focus/2-3-city-limits-the-risks-of-rapid-and-unplanned-urbanization-in-developing-countries/" target="_blank">(WEF Global Risks Report</a>) Insufficient ICT infrastructure, systems, platforms, and standards Low prevalence of mobile data plans</td></tr></tbody></table>&nbsp;For more details please read the constraints section in the use case handbook UNICEF's Office of innovation developed on <a href="https://www.unicef.org/innovation/urbanization" target="_blank">Innovating for children in an urbanizing world.</a>Priority consideration will be given to solutions that:<ul><li>Address current inequities in access to WASH needs</li><li>Prioritize marginalized populations, considering specifically those marginalized by their physical/intellectual disability, economic status, race, ethnicity, religion, age, marital status, gender, caste, sexuality, profession, location, literacy or lack thereof, and access to media and communications</li><li>Address a diverse geographic range of urban environments (we hope to select solutions from different regions)</li><li>Consider UNICEF Office of Innovation's Design Principles:<ul><li>Design with the User</li><li>Understand the existing ecosystem</li><li>Design for scale</li><li>Build for sustainability</li><li>Be data driven</li><li>Use open standards, open data, open source, open innovation (*if/where possible)</li><li>Reuse and improve</li><li>Do no harm</li><li>Be collaborative</li></ul></li></ul>To be considered, ideas must constitute transformative rather than incremental improvements in urban water and sanitation solutions and be low cost. We define low cost as interventions targeted for populations with individuals living on less than $1 per day, deliverable, and scalable in low- and middle-income countries. Proposals must (i) have a testable hypothesis, (ii) include an associated plan for how the idea would be tested or validated, and (iii) yield interpretable and unambiguous data in Phase I, in order to be considered for Phase II funding.Geographic considerations:We will prioritize selection of ideas that addresses WASH challenges in urban environments where all partners supporting this call actively work.&nbsp;This includes prioritizing WASH interventions in countries with high burden of open defecation and areas of substantial momentum in sanitation service delivery.&nbsp;For urban WASH, focus areas should support low income urban settlements, small towns, cities under protracted conflict, and cholera hotspots.We will not consider funding for:<ul><li>Ideas that are not directly relevant to low and middle-income countries</li><li>Projects that don't clearly consider the current context of available services/systems</li><li>Ideas that simply translate traditional approaches to an ICT platform (mobile, tablet, or web-based tools and aids)</li><li>Interventions that require our long-term financial support</li><li>Educational programs or campaigns without clearly articulated, measurable behavior outcomes or the ability to be taken to scale</li><li>Ideas for which proof of concept cannot be demonstrated within the scope of the Phase 1 award ($100k over 18 months)</li><li>Approaches that repeat conventional solutions without novel application</li><li>Basic research not directly linked to Urban WASH or measurable outcomes and focused purely on research tools for researchers and implementers</li><li>Ideas that do not address at least one of these specific areas: infrastructure interventions, education, campaigns, and models and tools to improve overall access to WASH needs that also apply a deeper understanding of our users' (customers/providers) needs when designing programs, services, and products/interventions</li><li>Approaches that present unacceptable ethical or safety risks</li><li>Projects earmarking foundation funds for lobbying activity (e.g., attempts to influence legislation or legislative action) or efforts to influence political campaigns for public office</li></ul>