On May 29, 2018, Grand Challenges Explorations grants were announced for 35 researchers from 17 different countries around the world. Each will receive US$100,000 to conduct early-stage research projects focusing on one of three global health and development challenges selected for this Round.

On May 29, 2018, Grand Challenges Explorations grants were announced for 35 researchers from 17 different countries around the world. Each will receive US$100,000 to conduct early-stage research projects focusing on one of three global health and development challenges selected for this Round.

Grand Challenges Explorations Round 20 Highlights

Healthy Minds for Adolescent Mothers: Achieving Healthy Outcomes for the Family (Round 20)

Guitele Rahill and Manisha Joshi of the University of South Florida in the U.S. will harness the Haitian tradition of storytelling to produce online videos, brochures, and posters that support pregnant teenagers in Haiti who are at high risk of depression.

"Krik Krak": Mental Health for Pregnant Haitian Teens

Maternal Mental Health

Grand Challenges Explorations

Photo Galleries

Photo Gallery

Innovations for Integrated Diagnostics Systems (Round 20)

Xing Xie of the Georgia Institute of Technology in the U.S. will test whether super-absorbent polymers in sample tubes can improve the accuracy of diagnostics by absorbing molecules like DNA and viruses from liquid samples such as blood, and protecting them during transport to the laboratory.

Using Super-Absorbent Polymer (SAP) Beads to Extend the Shelf Life of Liquid Samples

Diagnostics Systems

Novel Approaches for Improving Timeliness of Routine Immunization Birthdose and Healthcare Worker Skill in Low-Resource Settings (Round 20)

Ashenafi Tazebew of the University of Gondar in Ethiopia will develop a training and supervision program whereby medical and nursing staff working at local health science colleges in Ethiopia are trained to teach and mentor local health care workers to improve their skills, and the quality and safety of immunizations, thereby increasing uptake.

Introducing Capacity Building and Mentorship Program

Immunization Delivery

Chiwoneso Tinago of West Chester University of Pennsylvania in the U.S. will partner with adolescent mothers and local health workers in Zimbabwe to create peer-support groups incorporating cellphone-based technology such as the WhatsApp messenger application to provide coping and parenting skills to improve the mental health of young mothers.

Development and Testing of a Community-Based Peer-Support Intervention to Mitigate Social Isolation and Stigma of Adolescent Motherhood in Harare, Zimbabwe

Jeroen Lammertyn, Jaroslav Belotserkovsky, and Michael Kraft of KU Leuven in Belgium will develop a low-cost device to simplify blood collection and processing for monitoring of HIV viral load in low-resource settings.

SamPi - A Simple Integrated Blood Draw and Processing Tool

Folusho Balogun of the University of Ibadan in Nigeria will train older women who are traditionally involved in childcare in Nigeria to ensure infants in their communities are fully immunized.

Ensuring Infant Immunization Timeliness and Completion in Urban Slums Through Older Women's Participation

Brandon Kohrt of George Washington University in the U.S. will develop a tool using sensors associated with mobile phones that can identify and monitor young mothers suffering from perinatal depression in low-resource settings in Nepal so that personalized psychological treatments can be provided.

StandStrong - Sensing Technologies for Maternal Depression

William Grover of the University of California, Riverside, in the U.S. will create a medical record that is permanently attached to its human sample using micron-sized microtransponder chips added to the samples during collection. These chips will permanently link the sample to the patient, and provide their contact details, when and where the sample was collected, and the test results.

The Medical Record is in the Sample: "Salting" Specimens with Microtransponder Chips to Permanently Link Samples with Data

Arun Shanbhag of Manipal University in India will use near field communication (NFC) tags to transform traditional bracelets worn by infants in India into portable vaccination records that better track particularly migrant communities to promote full childhood vaccination coverage.

Vaccination Beads: A Visual and Digital Vaccination Record

Aleksandra Perczynska from People in Need in Nepal will develop two approaches, namely mobile phone voice messaging (mobile health [mHealth]) and workshops, to improve the mental health of young mothers in Nepal.

mHealth for Mental Health of Young Mothers in Nepal

Chris de Villiers of Sinapi Biomedical in South Africa will produce an improved sample container that ensures sputum samples are of sufficient quantity and quality to diagnose tuberculosis (TB).

Innovative Tuberculosis (TB) Sputum Collection Container

Allya Paramita Koesoema of the eHealth and Telemedicine Society in Indonesia will develop a pro-vaccination campaign to counteract the widespread negative views of vaccinations in Indonesia by engaging religious leaders and health workers in local communities to directly address misconceptions.

Integrated Support Program Against Anti-Vaccine Narratives

Rebecca Dempster of HIAS in the U.S. will develop an online game- and mentorship-based intervention to improve the mental health of refugee adolescent mothers in Kenya that integrates into their daily lives and helps them develop new skills.

A Blended Intervention: Digital Mental Health Game and Mentoring for Treatment of Common Perinatal Mental Disorders in Adolescent Refugee Mothers

Jan Willem Alffenaar of the University Medical Center Groningen in the Netherlands will develop two simple tests that measure the concentration of anti-tuberculosis drugs in treated patients in low-resource settings in order to optimize dosage and limit the emergence of deadly multi-drug resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MDR-TB).

Saliva and Dried Blood Spot Therapeutic Drug Monitoring for Multi-drug Resistant Tuberculosis

Tara Hopkins of Mali Health in the U.S. will develop methods to improve vaccination coverage in rural communities in southern Mali by engaging community health workers together with traditional birth attendants who are present during home births.

Using Participatory Quality Improvement Methods to Improve Vaccine Timeliness

Lisa Butler of the University of Connecticut in the U.S. will develop an approach to improve the mental health of pregnant and new mothers between 15 and 19 years old in Botswana that incorporates interactive group sessions mediated by trained community workers, informative text messages, and an SMS-based mental health screening tool.

Optimizing Mother and Child Health and Development in Botswana

Gerard Cangelosi of the University of Washington in the U.S. will develop reagents to visually validate oral swabs and stabilize them for storage and transport to diagnostic laboratories in low-resource settings without the need for a cold chain.