Skip to main content

Grand Challenges

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Main menu

  • About
  • Challenges
  • Awarded Grants
  • News
  • Grant Opportunities
  • Search

You are here

  1. Home
  2. Awarded Grants
  3. 2009
  4. 2018
  5. 2010

Print link

Print

Awarded Grants

Filter by Initiative

  • Grand Challenges Explorations Apply Grand Challenges Explorations filter (369)
  • Grand Challenges Brazil Apply Grand Challenges Brazil filter (25)
  • Grand Challenges Apply Grand Challenges filter (16)
  • Grand Challenges for Development Apply Grand Challenges for Development filter (15)
  • Grand Challenges India Apply Grand Challenges India filter (3)

Filter by Challenge

Filter by Awarded Year

  • 2019 Apply 2019 filter (121)
  • (-) Remove 2018 filter 2018 (129)
  • 2017 Apply 2017 filter (98)
  • 2016 Apply 2016 filter (162)
  • 2015 Apply 2015 filter (171)
  • 2014 Apply 2014 filter (152)
  • 2013 Apply 2013 filter (184)
  • 2012 Apply 2012 filter (244)
  • 2011 Apply 2011 filter (258)
  • (-) Remove 2010 filter 2010 (142)
  • (-) Remove 2009 filter 2009 (157)
  • 2008 Apply 2008 filter (105)
  • 2006 Apply 2006 filter (1)
  • 2005 Apply 2005 filter (43)

Filter by Country

Grand Challenges is a family of initiatives fostering innovation to solve key global health and development problems. Each initiative is an experiment in the use of challenges to focus innovation on making an impact. Individual challenges address some of the same problems, but from differing perspectives.

Sort by:
Date Awarded
Title (A-Z)
10
25
50
100

Creating Spirulina Microentrepreneurs to Solve Malnutrition

Sailendra AppanahEnerGaia Bangladesh Ltd.Dhaka, Bangladesh
Grand Challenges Explorations
Next Generation Nutrition
1 Nov 2018

Sailendra Appanah of EnerGaia Bangladesh Ltd in Bangladesh will teach low-income women in rural Bangladesh to farm Spirulina, which is an edible protein- and nutrient-rich microalgae, to provide better nutrition and an income for them and their families. They have developed a low-cost Spirulina production system comprising closed tanks with filtered air and water inputs, and a business model that provides the farmers with a lease-to-own financing solution and guaranteed buyers of excess product. They will recruit 30 interested women from Dhaka, Bangladesh, and pay them a small wage to undergo three months of training at their local Spirulina farm. They will then provide them with tanks through the lease-to-own program, help them with installation and operation, and process the fresh spirulina produce for sale or for local consumption. They will evaluate the effect of their approach on income and malnutrition in the community.

Marketing an Iron-Fortified Food to India's Adolescent Girls

Mathew EdmundsonViolet HealthNew York, New York, United States
Grand Challenges Explorations
Next Generation Nutrition
1 Nov 2018

Matthew Edmundson of Violet Health in the U.S. will develop iron-rich biscuits and tailor marketing campaigns to combat iron deficiency in adolescent girls in India. Iron deficiency is a global health concern and is particularly dangerous during pregnancy when it can increase the risk of maternal death and health problems for the infant. Nearly half of all adolescent girls in India are iron-deficient, and although iron tablets are available they are not taken properly, partly due to their bad taste and a cultural aversion to tablets. Thus, more culturally acceptable alternatives are needed. To address this, they developed a low-cost, iron-rich biscuit that could overcome anemia and non-compliance to iron tablets in clinical tests with pregnant women in India. They will now focus on helping low-income adolescent girls by adapting the biscuits to their nutritional needs and preferences, which will be determined by interviewing 50 girls from different areas. These insights will also be used for a pilot marketing campaign to generate demand amongst the girls and their families and community members. They will test their approach with 300 girls from rural and urban locations in India to determine the effects of different marketing methods on demand.

Folic Acid and Iron: Next Generation Nutrition in Uganda

Lorraine WeatherspoonMichigan State UniversityEast Lansing, Michigan, United States
Grand Challenges Explorations
Next Generation Nutrition
1 Nov 2018

Lorraine Weatherspoon of Michigan State University in the U.S. will develop a blended instant bean sauce in an edible pouch that provides a culturally-acceptable iron and folic acid supplement for low-income pregnant women in Uganda. Iron and folic acid are particularly important during pregnancy as they reduce the risk of low birth weight and neural tube defects amongst many other morbidities and mortalities also for the mothers. Supplements provided as tablets are available, but have not been widely accepted. They are developing a more appealing iron and folic acid supplement by combining it with a commonly used product: a bean and silver fish sauce that can be made with local ingredients. They are using dried namulonge beans as they have high yields and a desirable taste, mixed with roasted, milled silver fish and micronutrients, packaged in an edible film to protect the food during storage and transport. The food is cooked in hot water and eaten with traditional foods such as cooking banana or rice. They will assess the nutritional composite of the product and acceptability by the target group. Their product will then be tested in a randomized controlled trial with teenage women at different stages of pregnancy at an antenatal clinic in Kampala to determine its effect on nutrition during pregnancy and the overall health of the mother and child at birth.

High-Quality Fish-Powder for New Cambodian Ready-To-Use Food

Lyndon PaulVissot Co LtdPhnom Penh, Cambodia
Grand Challenges Explorations
Next Generation Nutrition
1 Nov 2018

Lyndon Paul of Vissot Co Ltd in Cambodia will reduce production costs for their nutritional wafer biscuits, which are made from a micronutrient-fortified fish powder, to help treat severe acute malnutrition in children and prevent malnutrition in young children and pregnant women in Cambodia. Acute and chronic malnutrition are a major public health concern in Cambodia. They previously developed a fortified fish powder and showed that it could replace milk in food for infants and was effective at reducing malnutrition. However, unstable supply and variable quality of the inland fish used to make the wafers have led to fluctuating prices. To address this, they will set up an optimized supply chain to reduce production costs by 60%. They will train workers in five communities where the fish are caught to sort, clean and pack the fish for transport to their factory in Phnom Penh. There, the fish will be processed into fish meal with acceptable taste and texture. They will evaluate the supply chain by collecting data from the fishers to the final product and evaluate quality and food safety.

Food-Derived Nutraceutical Encapsulation System for Food Fortification

Joachim LooNanyang Technological UniversitySingapore, Singapore
Grand Challenges Explorations
Next Generation Nutrition
1 Nov 2018

Joachim Loo of Nanyang Technical University in Singapore will develop techniques to encapsulate micronutrients such as iron for food fortification using okara, which is a nutritionally-rich pulp that is made as a wasted by-product during the production of soybean products. Micronutrient malnutrition affects two billion people globally. Providing micronutrients in the diet is difficult because they are unstable by themselves, and so need some form of protection, for example by encapsulating them in a stable, digestible material. Okara is produced in large quantities during the production of soybean products like tofu and soya milk, leading to high environmental and economic costs for disposal. They will determine whether okara can be repurposed as an encapsulation material for micronutrients by developing and testing drying and sterilization methods and designing protocols to encapsulate vitamin A and iron. They will then evaluate the ability of the okara microcapsules to release bioactive micronutrients when exposed to artificial gastric and intestinal fluids.

Edible Micro-Balloons for Nutrition Enhancement

Muthupandian AshokkumarUniversity of MelbourneMelbourne, Victoria, Australia
Grand Challenges Explorations
Next Generation Nutrition
1 Nov 2018

Muthupandian Ashokkumar at the University of Melbourne in Australia, along with Francesca Cavalieri, Meifang Zhou, and Srinvas Mettu, will produce edible microballoons made from protein that contain essential nutrients for adding to common foods to combat malnutrition in mothers and infants. Encapsulating the nutrients, rather than adding them directly to food, helps keep them stable and promotes their absorption in the body. It can also mask unpleasant tastes, and control the timing and location of nutrient release, which can increase their performance. They have developed a method that uses ultrasound waves to encapsulate oil- and water-soluble vitamins and minerals within edible shells made from a range of proteins including milk and pea proteins. They will analyze the stability and strength of microballoons made from different materials that contain the recommended daily doses of nutrients for mothers and infants. They will also develop methods to encapsulate water, which could be used to reduce the fat content of fat-rich products.

Creating a Market Solution to Treat Moderate Acute Malnutrition (MAM) in Rural Nigeria

Owens WiwaClinton Health Access InitiativeBoston, Massachusetts, United States
Grand Challenges Explorations
Next Generation Nutrition
1 Nov 2018

Owens Wiwa of the Clinton Health Access Initiative in the U.S. will determine whether providing free vouchers for mothers to receive a nutrient-dense food can help infants with moderate acute malnutrition in Nigeria. By linking the vouchers to attendance at immunization clinics, they also hope to boost immunization coverage. Malnutrition is a major public health concern in Nigeria, where almost one third of children are underweight, and ten percent are wasted. However, improving nutrition in poor and rural households is difficult because of a lack of education and limited access to nutritional foods. They will pilot test their approach in a randomized controlled trial at two locations by training healthcare workers at immunization centers to council mothers on feeding practices and to monitor infant growth to identify malnutrition. The mothers of malnourished infants between six and 23 months old will be provided with vouchers to receive three months' worth of an existing fortified food, which will be provided at a local health facility. They will evaluate the effect of their approach on the infants' nutritional status and immunization coverage.

Hybrid Value Chain for Vulnerable Populations

Gloraia PenaCooperativa Multiactiva De Madres Del Valle CoomacCali, Colombia
Grand Challenges Explorations
Next Generation Nutrition
1 Nov 2018

Gloraia Pena of Cooperativa Multiactiva De Madres Del Valle Coomac in Colombia will implement a hybrid value chain business model to leverage collective purchasing power in a community of low-income families in Colombia to reduce the price of nutritious local foods. Current food prices are relatively high for low-income families because they buy in small volumes. They will combine collective purchasing power with a hybrid value chain model, which incorporates the needs and roles of the public and private sectors, to increase access to nutritional foods. They will collect social and economic data from an existing group of 9,000 families in a poor neighbourhood in Colombia to understand how their approach should be implemented. This will include the numbers of participants needed to reduce the cost sufficiently to encourage people to buy the healthier foods and ultimately produce a positive long-term impact.

Developing Spent-Grain Food Supplements in Ethiopia

Tsegaye NegaCarleton CollegeNorthfield, Minnesota, United States
Grand Challenges Explorations
Next Generation Nutrition
1 Nov 2018

Tsegaye Nega of Carleton College in the U.S. will develop methods to produce and distribute affordable nutritional food supplements made from excess, dried spent grains from the brewery process. Beer production has grown recently in Ethiopia, and a by-product, brewer's spent grain, is rich in fiber and protein and can be easily added to bread to boost its nutritional content. They will perform a pilot study in Addis Ababa and Dukem, Ethiopia, where they will partner with a major brewing company to access the starting materials, and determine the standards needed for this human-grade food and the production and distribution setups required. They will also further develop nutritional product marketing and testing. Their approach is a low-cost, sustainable solution to combat malnutrition in Ethiopia.

Development of Low-Cost Clean-Tasting Protein Isolates Using Upcycled Agricultural By-Products

Amanda StilesRipple Foods, PBCBerkeley, California, United States
Grand Challenges Explorations
Next Generation Nutrition
1 Nov 2018

Amanda Stiles of Ripple Foods, PBC, in the U.S. will produce a low-cost protein isolate upcycled from locally-sourced agricultural by-products that can be used as a nutritious food additive or standalone high-protein broth. Protein malnutrition is a major health concern in southern Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. However, protein is expensive to produce and often has a bad taste. They have developed an automated approach to identify low-cost, efficient methods to isolate plant proteins from agricultural by-products in the U.S. They will apply their approach to by-products from low-resource settings, such as wheat bran, and perform a high-throughput protein isolation screen to identify optimal extraction and purification protocols for yield and purity. The final products will be taste-tested to ensure they have a limited impact on flavor when used as food additives.

Improving Process Efficiencies: Assessing and Improving Immunization Clinic Workflows Using an Electronic Immunization Registry

Samantha DolanUniversity of WashingtonSeattle, Washington, United States
Grand Challenges Explorations
Immunization Delivery
1 Nov 2018

Samantha Dolan and Peter Rabinowitz of the University of Washington in the U.S., and Ian Njeru of I-TECH Kenya, will improve digital data collection and monitoring of childhood immunizations at Kenyan health facilities by optimizing workflows. Using electronic tools to track immunizations has the potential to improve the accuracy of data collection and reporting, identify children who have not been vaccinated, and free up time for health care workers. To fully realize this potential, workflow patterns need optimizing for different types of health facilities. They will use an iterative approach with so-called Lean methods to maximise value while reducing waste, and time-motion study techniques to evaluate current workflows and identify bottlenecks that reduce efficiency. These workflows will then be redesigned and tested across different sizes and types of facilities in Kenya. They will also compare the efficiency and performance of electronic registries with paper-based registries.

Obtaining Accurate Estimates of Subnational Vaccine Coverage

Joshua WarrenYale UniversityNew Haven, Connecticut, United States
Grand Challenges Explorations
Immunization Delivery
1 Nov 2018

Joshua Warren and Daniel Weinberger of Yale University in the U.S. will develop an analytical framework to improve local estimates of vaccine coverage in low- to middle-income countries. Current estimates can be unreliable, due to errors and biases in record-keeping and difficulties in estimating local population sizes, and are further complicated when children are vaccinated outside of their home administrative district. They will develop advanced spatial analytical methods including bias adjustments that take these issues into account and can generate more reliable local estimates also from poor quality data. They will collect higher quality survey data on vaccine coverage and population sizes from selected locations to calibrate and ultimately validate the estimates. Their approach can be used in other low-income settings to improve vaccine coverage.

True Cover: Localized, Accurate Immunization Coverage

Matt BergOnaNairobi, Kenya
Grand Challenges Explorations
Immunization Delivery
1 Nov 2018

Matt Berg of Ona in the U.S. will combine high-resolution satellite images, spatial sampling statistics, and mobile data collection to better calculate local immunization coverage in Bangladesh. Current approaches often vastly overestimate coverage because of the difficulty in calculating actual population sizes from nationwide data and birth registries. As a more effective approach, they will use satellite imagery to detect liveable structures within a set area, and software that selects possible households that require verification by community surveillance teams. These teams will be supplied with offline maps and a mobile application to note actual households and record the immunization status of any children under five. These data will then be used to generate maps to visualize actual coverage and identify areas with the greatest immunization needs. They will develop tools for automation, coverage calculations, and map visualizations to supplement their existing mapping and mobile data collection tools and test their approach in a research site in Bangladesh.

Electronic Decision Support System for Accurate Immunization

Ali TurabInteractive Research and Development Global LimitedSingapore, Singapore
Grand Challenges Explorations
Immunization Delivery
1 Nov 2018

Ali Turab of IRD Global Ltd. in Singapore will develop a decision support tool that can be integrated with digital immunization registries to automatically construct optimal appointment schedules for every child that can adjust for missed immunizations and the introduction of new vaccines. A large majority of children, in both developing and developed countries, are not immunized at the recommended times, which can increase the risk of severe diseases. When a vaccination is missed, it is left to the health care professional to work out the best alternative schedule, which is often inaccurate. To help with this, they will design software that incorporates a child's vaccination history and age to automatically construct a new immunization schedule after every appointment, and that can also identify opportunities to vaccinate children even when they are at a clinic for other reasons. The software will integrate with existing health systems in several developing countries. They will conduct a mixed methods study at the Indus Hospital Korangi Campus in Pakistan to validate their approach for generating optimal schedules and assess usability by health workers.

Accessible Metrics of Access: Novel Tools to Measure Immunization Coverage

Ross BoyceUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel HillChapel Hill, North Carolina, United States
Grand Challenges Explorations
Immunization Delivery
1 Nov 2018

Ross Boyce at the University of North Carolina in the U.S. will develop an approach that uses new methods of mapping households together with available health data to better identify places that have limited access to healthcare to improve immunization coverage. Many sub-Saharan African countries have very poor rates of childhood vaccination coverage. Improving coverage requires identifying those households and areas with poor access to healthcare, but this is challenging with the limited data available. To more accurately measure healthcare access and thereby immunization coverage, they will perform a six-month study in a rural sub-county of western Uganda. By providing user-friendly tools to health workers and providers, they will generate more accurate household maps and assess three different metrics of healthcare access using freely available software and a Bayesian statistical framework. They will evaluate the accuracy of their approach for predicting coverage by conducting a cross-sectional survey to determine the vaccination status of all children aged between 12 and 23 months in the sub-county.

Using Technology to Deliver Timely Immunization Data to the Doorstep of the Program Staff and Managers for Evidence-Based Decision Making

James NjeruField Epidemiology Society of KenyaNairobi, Kenya
Grand Challenges Explorations
Immunization Delivery
1 Nov 2018

James Njeru of the Field Epidemiology Society of Kenya will develop an integrated electronic platform that collects immunization and health data from existing registries and automatically sends regular, user-defined reports via SMS and email to health workers to improve vaccine coverage. Healthcare facilities record their immunization data on District Health Information Systems, but access to the data is limited. To widen access, they will build a platform that analyzes relevant health data from various sources, which will improve data accuracy, displays it on dashboards, registers users, and tracks their activity. They will pilot test their platform over seven months by registering program staff and managers so that they can access the platform and receive reports. The platform will be evaluated for its ability to integrate data and produce reports such as coverage and dropout rates. Feedback from users will also be used to refine the platform.

Improving Immunization Coverage by Scaling-Up a Regional Data Platform

Michael NunanTupaia (Beyond Essential Systems)Thornbury, Victoria, Australia
Grand Challenges Explorations
Immunization Delivery
1 Nov 2018

Michael Nunan of Beyond Essential Systems in Australia will build on their existing data platform to collect and analyze vaccine data in real-time to provide an early warning of areas or facilities with low immunization coverage. The platform integrates data from various sources, including vaccine supply and healthcare infrastructure such as equipment and staff. They will further develop it to record actual vaccine administrations from health workers entering details on mobile phones, and to produce local estimates of vaccine demand and actual coverage and provide alerts. They will also integrate real-time monitoring of the cold supply chain using sensors. Their system will be evaluated in the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu by comparing it with current methods for estimating vaccine demand and coverage.

DigiMat. Tracking Realtime Immunisation Data (DigiTrack)

Chibuzo OparaDrugStoc E Hub Ltd.Lagos, Nigeria
Grand Challenges Explorations
Immunization Delivery
1 Nov 2018

Chibuzo Opara of DrugStoc E Hub Ltd. in Nigeria will equip vaccine storage and transport sites with calibrated weighing mats (Digimats) that automatically transmit vaccine quantities in real time to better monitor delivery chains in the community and improve supply. Monitoring the movement of vaccines at the national and district level is currently performed by the Nigerian immunization program. However, accurate monitoring at the local level requires alternative, more automated approaches to avoid human error. They will calibrate their Digimats to recognize the weight of specific vaccines, and identify 20 sites across three states, including storage warehouses and trucks, where they will be positioned to automatically transmit data over a period of six months. These data will be collected by mobile tablets and interfaced with the national vaccine delivery dashboard to provide real-time stock counts and resupply alerts.

Human-in-the-Loop Machine Learning and Improved Immunization Data

Benjamin FelsMacro-Eyes, Inc.Fall City, Washington, United States
Grand Challenges Explorations
Immunization Delivery
1 Nov 2018

Benjamin Fels and Suvrit Sra of Macro-Eyes, Inc. in the U.S. will engage with frontline health workers in immunization centers and combine their knowledge with existing supply chain and immunization data using machine learning to better predict vaccine demand and thereby improve immunization coverage. Vaccine supply levels in Ethiopia are predicted using data that may be inaccurate or outdated. These low-confidence data could be enhanced with the unique insights of frontline health workers by using machine learning, which is a valuable statistical method for increasing the accuracy of predictions. They will test this at three health centers in Ethiopia by exploring approaches such as WhatsApp to engage health workers and collect relevant information on vaccine stocks and demand in the clinics. These data, along with available supply data, will be used to train so-called classifiers, or algorithms, that transform the input data into more accurate predictions of monthly vaccine use. They will test whether their method improves the accuracy of predictions compared to the original methods.

Using Data-Driven Algorithms to Detect False Data Entries

Mustafa NaseemUniversity of MichiganAnn Arbor, Michigan, United States
Grand Challenges Explorations
Immunization Delivery
1 Nov 2018

Mustafa Naseem of the University of Michigan in the U.S. will apply machine-learning algorithms to identify potentially falsified digital vaccination records in Pakistan. Pakistan is one of only three remaining countries where polio is still endemic. Particularly rural healthcare facilities are struggling to provide enough vaccinations due to highly populous provinces and a lack of resources and staff, and there is a risk that records are falsified to save time or bias the results. They will first perform fieldwork to identify any putative recently falsified records by auditing 2,000 recorded vaccination events across 200 randomly-selected villages. These data will be used to generate an algorithm by using features such as record patterns that can then detect if a data-point is likely to be true or false. They will test their approach by auditing another 1,000 vaccination events that the algorithm predicted were falsified compared to 1,000 randomly selected vaccinations.

Aerial Plant Disease Surveillance by Spectral Signatures

Pierluigi BonelloOhio State UniversityColumbus, Ohio, United States
Grand Challenges Explorations
Crop Disease Surveillance
1 Nov 2018

Pierluigi Bonello of Ohio State University in the U.S. will develop a surveillance system for crops using unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) to position sensors to help diagnose plant diseases in low-income countries. Plant diseases are usually identified first by the farmers or human scouts and then confirmed by laboratory testing. This process is inefficient and requires resources often unavailable in low-income countries, calling for alternative approaches. It is known that when a plant becomes infected, it produces specific chemicals. In addition, functional chemical groups in biological samples are known to vibrate in predictable ways after absorbing light. They will test whether this information can be exploited for the rapid and widespread detection of two plant diseases, rice blast and maize dwarf mosaic, by vibrational spectroscopy that could be positioned inside crop canopies by drones. Rice and maize grown in greenhouses and fields in the U.S. will be infected, and they will develop statistical methods to evaluate whether handheld spectrometers can distinguish between infected and uninfected plants. This technology could ultimately allow crop managers to control the spread of a disease even before plants show visual symptoms.

PLANT-DX: Field-Based Multiplexed Crop Pathogen Surveillance

Julius LucksNorthwestern UniversityEvanston, Illinois, United States
Grand Challenges Explorations
Crop Disease Surveillance
1 Nov 2018

Julius Lucks of Northwestern University in the U.S. will develop a low-cost diagnostic test that can detect multiple plant pathogens with a simple visual output for farmers in low-income countries to better monitor their crops. Current diagnostic field tests can only detect one disease and are generally difficult to use and costly. The alternative is laboratory testing, which is often unavailable in low-resource settings. Taking a different approach, they will develop a sensitive, multiplexed test that only requires basic sample preparation, such as mixing and using body heat, and can detect multiple pathogens using biosensors. The results will be visually presented using color changes that can be recorded by cell-phone cameras for analysis and reporting to aid global plant pathogen surveillance efforts. They will develop the methods and tools to detect three model plant pathogens and field test their diagnostic system in the U.S., Uganda, and Kenya.

Smart Armyworm Surveillance (SAS)

James BellRothamsted ResearchHertfordshire, United Kingdom
Grand Challenges Explorations
Crop Disease Surveillance
1 Nov 2018

James Bell of Rothamsted Research in the United Kingdom will test an integrated surveillance system for the real-time detection of ground and upper atmospheric levels of the fall armyworm, which is a moth that devastates maize crops. Maize is a vital food source in Kenya but is currently largely imported and has become too expensive for most households. They propose to help local farmers grow maize by developing an early warning system for the African moth pests. Their system will integrate an entomological radar to detect moths flying up to 1,200 metres overhead, with twenty ground traps covering 7,000 km2 that transmit data to a central institute, and a smart-phone application for workers and growers that automatically detects the caterpillars and moths. They will optimize the equipment and software to detect the specific moth species and test it in a region of Western Kenya over one year. Their system will also reveal details of seasonal moth migrations, ground spread, and crop growth to help develop effective pest management strategies.

Low-Cost Paper Sensor for Surveillance of Cereal Crops

Jun KameokaTexas A&M UniversityCollege Station, Texas, United States
Grand Challenges Explorations
Crop Disease Surveillance
1 Nov 2018

Jun Kameoka of Texas A&M University in the U.S. will develop multiplex, battery-less and wireless durable paper sensors for positioning under the soil in crop fields to detect the early signs of pests and diseases, and communicate the data to overhead drones via radio frequency to improve pest management. The sensor will be designed to monitor physical, biological and chemical soil conditions that are altered by plant diseases. They will test its performance in commercial garden soil with maize and sorghum plants in a vinyl house.

Biomimetic In-Field, IoT, "Sentinel" Fungal & Viral Sensor

Bruce GrieveUniversity of ManchesterManchester, United Kingdom
Grand Challenges Explorations
Crop Disease Surveillance
1 Nov 2018

Bruce Grieve of Manchester University in the United Kingdom will develop a low-cost, stereo-printed sensor that mimics plant leaves and stems and can detect and signal the presence of live pathogens as an early warning system to help protect crops in low-resource settings. They will demonstrate proof-of-concept of their approach in the laboratory by designing three dimensional sensors with specific patterns of cells and chemically-doped polymers to identify an ideal surface on which pathogenic fungal spores can grow and differentiate. Incorporated sensor cells will be designed to detect the live pathogens and produce a detectable response, such as a visible density change, and results can be stored locally or transmitted wirelessly. They will test different sensor designs for the detection of rust pathogens in wheat. Their approach can be adapted to detect multiple pathogens simultaneously, including viruses, as well as for human and livestock pathogens, and when deployed in the field can ultimately be linked to national surveillance systems.

Accurate Phone-Based Plant Disease Diagnostics

Jan KreuzeInternational Potato CenterLima, Peru
Grand Challenges Explorations
Crop Disease Surveillance
1 Nov 2018

Jan Kreuze of the International Potato Center in Peru will develop a low-cost, mobile phone-based diagnostic test for African farmers that uses artificial intelligence to quickly and accurately detect plant diseases such as cassava brown streak and banana bunchy top, which devastate crops and are threatening to spread. Accurately diagnosing plant diseases is difficult because visual symptoms can be highly variable. Artificial intelligence (AI) has shown promise for analyzing images of plants taken by mobile phone to detect diseases in low-resource settings, but it is not accurate enough. Alternatively, chemical-based diagnostic tests that detect the underlying viruses are far more accurate but difficult to use without training and require costly equipment. They will enhance the accuracy of AI for diagnosing a range of plant diseases by mobile phone by training it with validated diagnostic test results from their microfluidic amplification and detection device used by researchers and inspection agents. Their approach has the potential to recognize hard-to-detect symptoms in plants that may even be missed by crop specialists.

Integrated Platform for Effective Surveillance

Christopher GilliganUniversity of CambridgeCambridge, United Kingdom
Grand Challenges Explorations
Crop Disease Surveillance
1 Nov 2018

Christopher Gilligan of the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom will develop a data collection and analysis platform for crop diseases that uses Bayesian modelling frameworks to better integrate data from diverse sources and identifies cost-effective pest and disease control solutions for small-holder farmers. Current crop disease surveillance programs generally collect data from limited sources and lack the capacity to use the data to advise farmers how to manage any disease outbreaks. By integrating a wider variety of data, including meteorological data, and grower and market behaviour such as household nutrition, their approach can predict much broader consequences of crop diseases on individual households and thereby provide more valuable solutions. They will focus on pests and diseases of maize, wheat, and cassava in East Africa and pilot test their SMS and smart phone platform by holding training workshops for participants, testing data analytics and validating the results.

Pest and Disease Surveillance via High-Resolution Satellites

David HughesPennsylvania State UniversityUniversity Park, Pennsylvania, United States
Grand Challenges Explorations
Crop Disease Surveillance
1 Nov 2018

David Hughes, and Nita Bharti of Penn State University in the U.S. together with James Legg at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture in Tanzania and the Charity, Self Help Africa, will leverage daily, high-resolution satellite imagery of farms in Kenya to monitor crop pests and diseases. Publicly funded satellites have the capacity to measure crop health, soil moisture, and water availability across wide areas. However, they are unable to accurately diagnose crop diseases particularly in smallholder farms because of the presence of many different types of often unhealthy-looking vegetation caused by lack of water or nutrients rather than plant diseases. They will use ground data on crop diseases and pests being collected as part of a five-year EU-funded project at 1,400 farms in seven counties growing a variety of crops. They will also collect maps of the farms using drones flying at different heights and see how well any pests and diseases can be detected using the daily satellite data. They will validate their approach for detecting pests and diseases on an additional 1,400 farms.

A Crowd-Sourcing Approach to Large-Scale Monitoring of Pests by Smallholder Farmers

Menale KassieInternational Centre of Insect Physiology and EcologyNairobi, Kenya
Grand Challenges Explorations
Crop Disease Surveillance
1 Nov 2018

Menale Kassie of the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology in Kenya along with Ram Fishman and Opher Mendelsohn from Tel Aviv University in Israel will take a community-based crowdsourcing approach to crop protection of smallholder farms in low-resource settings by developing a simple software platform for basic feature phones to monitor pest incidence. Human-based monitoring of crops is the most accurate way to identify pests, but there are too few public monitoring agents in low-resource settings, leaving the majority of farms unprotected. Engaging the smallholder farmers to monitor their own crops is a promising solution, but most of them lack sophisticated equipment like smart phones and have low technical knowledge, so simpler solutions are needed. Therefore, they will adapt commercially-available software that collates and analyzes pest incidence data for basic feature phones and, together with smallholder farmers, design simple interfaces for SMS communication. They will test their approach by performing a pilot study to monitor wheat and maize, covering one to two counties in Kenya, and teach smallholder farmers and government agents how to use the monitoring system and compare the data with that collected by expert field agents.

Zero-Power Chemical Sensors for Pests and Disease Monitoring

Matteo RinaldiNortheastern UniversityBoston, Massachusetts, United States
Grand Challenges Explorations
Crop Disease Surveillance
1 Nov 2018

Matteo Rinaldi of Northeastern University in the U.S. will develop a miniaturized, maintenance-free chemical sensor that can detect specific volatile organic chemical vapors released from diseased crops as an effective surveillance system suitable for low-resource settings. Manual surveillance is time-consuming and requires prior knowledge of disease symptoms. Automated, sensor-based crop surveillance is far more effective, but relatively expensive, and the sensors constantly consume power, making them unsuitable for low-resource settings. They will develop a low-energy sensor-based monitoring system by exploiting a recently developed technology that comprises a micromechanical switch made of two cantilever beams. One of the beams will be coated with a polymer sensitive to the plant-based chemical and exposed to the environment. In the presence of that chemical, the beam undergoes a change in mechanical stress, causing it to bend and make contact with the second beam to trigger the switch. They will develop the microswitch-based chemical sensors, integrate them with a low-power long-range wireless module to signal pest detection, and test the performance of prototypes in the laboratory.

Milk Exosomes and RNA for Optimal Growth and Immune Function

Janos ZempleniUniversity of Nebraska-LincolnLincoln, Nebraska, United States
Grand Challenges Explorations
Next Generation Nutrition
1 Nov 2018

Janos Zempleni of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in the U.S. will test whether supplementing milk formula with exosomes from milk could have the potential to improve the growth of babies aged between 6 and 12 months and help protect them from infections. Exosomes are membrane-bound vesicles naturally present in all bodily fluids and are thought to transfer small molecules such as RNAs between different cells to regulate various cell functions. However, during the production of milk formula for babies, the exosomes are destroyed. They have preliminary data demonstrating that RNAs and exosomes in milk enhance growth and the immune response in mouse pups. They will expand these studies to confirm their results in mice, with a view to progressing to clinical trials to test the value of exosome-fortified milk formula in humans.

Uganda Vacc+: User-Centered Data Collection and Use

Monica NolanMU-JHU Care LimitedKampala, Uganda
Grand Challenges Explorations
Immunization Delivery
1 Nov 2018

Monica Nolan of MU-JHU Care Limited in Uganda will adapt the existing open source Smart Register Platform, which digitally stores health records, for the real-time collection and transfer of immunization data, to improve vaccine coverage and other healthcare services for women and children in Uganda. In many low- to middle-income countries, records of childhood vaccinations are usually written by hand and can be poor quality. Digital records are of better quality and value, as they also enable the integration of different types of healthcare services, such as HIV services and vaccinations, to improve overall health. They will adapt existing technology and infrastructure, including the Smart Register Platform, which is already integrated into several national health systems and can produce automated SMS reminders of appointments. They will also design methods informed by mothers with young families, health workers and managers, to optimize data use and delivery of health services. They will use surveys and analyze health data to evaluate their approach for improving vaccine timeliness and coverage at selected clinics.

Optical Scanning of the Mother and Child Protection Card

Aaditeshwar SethOnionDev Technologies Pvt. Ltd.Gurgaon, Haryana, India
Grand Challenges Explorations
Immunization Delivery
1 Nov 2018

Aaditeshwar Seth of OnionDev Technologies Pvt. Ltd. in India in collaboration with the University of Montreal Hospital Research Centre (CRCHUM) via the Tika Vaani project, will develop a smartphone application and digital processing techniques to digitize childhood immunization data from photographs of vaccination cards taken by health workers during clinic visits and store the data in a cloud to monitor adherence and send reminders to families. They will perform an 18-month pilot project to develop the application and optimize data collection and analyses, use by health workers, and performance of the messaging service for encouraging families to get their children properly vaccinated. The application will be designed around field conditions to account for low internet connectivity and the capabilities of health workers in India and will be linked with other digital health platforms to improve the overall quality of healthcare.

Crowd-Sourcing Vital Records to Improve Subnational Data

Chinedu ChugboAvigo Health L.L.C.Washington, District of Columbia, United States
Grand Challenges Explorations
Immunization Delivery
1 Nov 2018

Chinedu Chugbo of Avigo Health L.L.C. in the U.S. will develop an approach to crowdsource reports of infant births and deaths from community members by health workers to better monitor vaccine coverage in low- to middle-income countries. In Nigeria, only 30% of births are registered, making it difficult to estimate numbers of vaccine-eligible children and ensure every child is properly vaccinated. Current methods for estimating population sizes include household surveys, which are costly, or records from health clinics, which suffer from limited coverage. Crowdsourcing is a proven method for efficient data collection, although data quality may be variable. They will develop electronic data-collection and storage tools and pilot test their crowdsourcing approach in a selected region in Nigeria. Health workers will be trained to administer brief interviews to community members visiting clinics and during outreach programs to document local births and deaths. They will evaluate the performance of their approach and particularly data accuracy by comparing it with data collected by household surveys in the same region.

Tracking MRSA Evolution to Discover Important Biomarkers to Quickly Characterize Unique MRSA Clones in Hospital Bloodstream Infections

Agnes FigueiredoUniversidade Federal do Rio de JaneiroRio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Grand Challenges Brazil
Drug Resistance Burden
1 Nov 2018

The project will use molecular approaches, including genomics and phylogenomics, to find biomarkers that could indicate the location in the genetic code driving bacterial adaptation. In addition, these biomarkers could be used as a rapid method for screening predominant and high-virulency MRSA clones in hospitals, and thus quickly provide infection control committees with key data on MRSA spread and its antimicrobial resistance profile.

An Artificial Intelligence System to Strengthen Antimicrobial Prescription in a Children's Hospital: SMART-EP

Marcelo PillonettoPontifícia Universidade Católica do ParanáCuritiba, Paraná, Brazil
Grand Challenges Brazil
Drug Resistance Burden
1 Nov 2018

The idea is to develop an artificial intelligence model capable of simultaneously analyzing data from the Laboratory Information System and from the Hospital Information System. This technology aims to enable the delivery to hospital physicians of a ranked list of antimicrobials that are more suitable to treat infection by multi-resistant microorganism with a focus on newborn and young children.

Applying the Metagenomic Approach for the Detection of EsβL- and Carbapenemase-Producing Enteric Pathogens Recovered from Different Hosts

Ana GalesUniversidade Federal de São PauloSão Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
Grand Challenges Brazil
Drug Resistance Burden
1 Nov 2018

The project will study the genetic material from environmental samples from humans (healthy and ill), cattle and their meat to estimate the proportion of E. coli and K. pneumoniae in the microbiome. The main objective is to better understand the distribution of bacteria and its resistance genes, Escherichia coli and Klebsiella pneumoniae bacteria and extended spectrum beta-lactamase (EsβL) and carbapenemases encoding genes in distinct ecological sources.

OneBR: Integrated Genomic Database for Surveillance, Diagnosis, Management and Treatment of Antimicrobial Resistance in the Human-Animal-Environment Interface

Nilton LincopanUniversidade de São PauloSão Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
Grand Challenges Brazil
Drug Resistance Burden
1 Nov 2018

This project proposes the development of the One Health Brazilian Resistance (OneBR), a curated and integrated genomic database. OneBR will use algorithms based on artificial intelligence to conduct surveillance, diagnosis, management and treatment of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in the human-animal-environment interface. The goal is for this platform to be used by Brazilian health professionals in diverse settings, particularly within the Unified Healthcare System (SUS).

Data Science on Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis in Brazil

Rejane PinheiroUniversidade Federal do Rio de JaneiroRio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Grand Challenges Brazil
Drug Resistance Burden
1 Nov 2018

The researcher will use machine learning techniques and a linked database to analyze mortality from drug-resistant tuberculosis. The goal is to better understand how the flow of patients through the health services network have influenced, or not, the occurrence of resistance.

The Dynamics of Antibiotic-Resistant Microorganism Flow Between Animal Farming and Medical Hospital Assistance

Thaís SinceroUniversidade Federal de Santa CatarinaFlorianópolis, Santa Catarina, Brazil
Grand Challenges Brazil
Drug Resistance Burden
1 Nov 2018

The project proposes to characterize the resistant determinants of microbial communities from key sources in hospitals, environment and farms to model the dynamics of the flow of antibiotic resistant microorganisms. The goal is to understand how the hospital environment and animal farming affect the ecology of antibiotic resistance movement. The project will rely on a methodology that allows the analysis of genes related to antibiotic resistance in a complex microbial community derived from specific samples instead of culture based methods for AMR identification.

Plasmid Curing by an Ethiopian Barley: A Natural Food Approach to Reduce Plasmid Mediated Antibiotic Resistance

Bruno PennaUniversidade Federal FluminenseRio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Grand Challenges Brazil
Drug Resistance Burden
1 Nov 2018

Bacterial plasmids are genetic elements that can carry genes for antibiotic resistance from one bacteria to another acting as "messengers". Plasmid transfers contribute to the appearance of multidrug resistant bacteria. This project aims to use a "kill the messenger, not the bacteria" approach to tackle the problem of increasing antibiotic resistance. The goal is to test the elimination of plasmids carrying genes for antimicrobial resistance.

Application of Low-Cost and Sustainable Solar Oxidation Treatment to Prevent Microbial Resistance in Effluents in Brazil

Camila AmaralUniversidade Federal de Minas GeraisBelo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil
Grand Challenges Brazil
Drug Resistance Burden
1 Nov 2018

This project will test a sustainable solar oxidation system as a way to remove antibiotic resistant bacteria from wastewater. The hypothesis is that this technology can enable the inactivation of antibiotic resistant bacteria and the elimination of antibiotic resistant genes from effluents in Brazil.

Monitor AMR in Community Uropathogens and Correlate Them with the Determinants of Resistance in Animal Enterobacteria Isolates

Eliana Carolina VesperoUniversidade Estadual de LondrinaLondrina, Paraná, Brazil
Grand Challenges Brazil
Drug Resistance Burden
1 Nov 2018

The project aims to monitor AMR in microorganisms of the urinary tract and correlate it with the genetic determinants of resistance in animal enterobacteria. The study results will be disseminated in order to inform potential changes to guidelines regarding selection of the appropriate antimicrobials first-line treatment for urinary tract infections (UTI).

Engineers, Pharmacists and Chemists Collaborating on the Development of an Aerobic Granular Sludge (AGS) to Remove Antibiotics from Hospital Wastewater

Leonardo MouraUniversidade Federal do Rio de JaneiroRio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Grand Challenges Brazil
Drug Resistance Burden
1 Nov 2018

The project proposes to use an aerobic granular sludge (AGS) - a technology based on microbial community - to remove antibiotics and antimicrobial resistant genes from hospital wastewater. AGS is one of the latest innovations and it has not yet been applied for the treatment of hospital wastewater.

The Use of Low-Cost Immobilized DNA Aptamers on a Cellulose Filter to Remove Antibiotic Residues from Effluents

Tiago MendesUniversidade Federal de ViçosaViçosa, Minas Gerais, Brazil
Grand Challenges Brazil
Drug Resistance Burden
1 Nov 2018

The project will develop a cellulose filter containing immobilized DNA aptamers, molecules that bind to a specific target molecule, that act as specific and high affinity probes for the uptake and retention of antibiotic molecules present in effluents. Nowadays, the removal of antibiotic residues from effluents is mainly based on chemical processes and physical methods that require expensive technologies and costly maintenance. The success of this project will represent a wastewater treatment option that is low-cost and environment-friendly.

New Gestational Weight Gain Recommendations for the Brazilian Unified Health System (SUS)

Gilberto KacUniversidade Federal do Rio de JaneiroRio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Grand Challenges Brazil
Data Science Approaches
1 Nov 2018

Aims to validate the International Fetal and Newborn Growth Consortium for the 21st century (Intergrowth-21st) standards for gestational weight gain (GWG) and create new recommendations of GWG based on those standards for first trimester normal and overweight women to be used in the Brazilian Unified Health System (SUS). GWG recommendations currently used in SUS have not been properly tested or validated, thus the project might improve prenatal nutritional care and reduce post gestational weight retention.

Potential Pregnancy Days Lost (PPDL): An Innovative Gestational Age Measure to Assess Maternal and Child Health Interventions and Outcomes

Carmen DinizUniversidade de São PauloSão Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
Grand Challenges Brazil
Data Science Approaches
1 Nov 2018

The main goal of the project is to develop and explore an innovative measure of gestational age - "potential pregnancy days lost" (PPDL) - to produce evidence of its association with maternal and child health, morbidity and mortality in the short, medium and long term. The indicator also aims to convince women and policy makers about the need to promote less interventions and "harm-free care" during pregnancy.

Early Childhood Development Friendly Index: Assessing the Enabling Environment for Nurturing Care in Brazilian Municipalities

Muriel GubertUniversidade de BrasíliaBrasília, Distrito Federal, Brazil
Grand Challenges Brazil
Data Science Approaches
1 Nov 2018

The study aims to develop an Early Childhood Development friendly index (ECD-FI) based on a core set of evidence-based nurturing care indicators to assess the factors contributing to enabling environments and promote ECD at the municipal level by monitoring and identifying opportunities to scale up ECD programs. The index will be created through machine learning and will run analytical models considering demographic information and risk factors at the municipal level. This disaggregated data is not available in Brazil.

How and When: Disentangling Cash and Care Effects of Conditional Cash Transfers on Birth Outcomes

Cecilia MachadoFundação Getúlio VargasRio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Grand Challenges Brazil
Data Science Approaches
1 Nov 2018

Seeks to understand the impacts of the Bolsa Família conditional cash transfer on birth outcomes (e.g., birth weight, gestational weeks, etc). The proposed design will disentangle the measured effects into two components: one that is associated to the cash transfer; and another related to prenatal care assistance. Moreover, this strategy will allow the researchers to determine the window of opportunity where CCT interventions exhibit highest impacts on birth outcomes, recognizing heterogeneous impacts according to how early in the pregnancy the CCT intervention starts.

Decision-Making Support Platform Based on Visual Analytics and Machine Learning to Subsidize Public Politics Focused on Gestational Health

Tiago CarvalhoInstituto Federal de São PauloCampinas, São Paulo, Brazil
Grand Challenges Brazil
Data Science Approaches
1 Nov 2018

The project will develop a platform to provide services for decision-making support for neonatal death preventive actions by using data from CIDACS cohort. The platform will offer three services: cohort data visualization for decision-making support by comparative human visual analysis, prediction of risk of neonatal death based on machine learning models, and simulator of public policies impact influencing on the risk of neonatal death.

Assessing the Impact of Hospital-Based Breastfeeding Interventions on Infant Health

Cristiano BoccoliniFiocruzRio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Grand Challenges Brazil
Data Science Approaches
1 Nov 2018

Aims to access all 68.3 million living births certificates from Brazil, from 1994 to 2016, and compare them with breastfeeding policies in all Brazilian hospitals to assess the impact of the initiatives on infant health. The study also plans to estimate the number of avoidable deaths during this time period, if those initiatives were adopted in Brazil.

Spatial Analysis of Child Vaccination Coverage and its Relation to Socioeconomic and Health Characteristics in Brazil

Carolina BarbieriUniversidade Católica de SantosSantos, São Paulo, Brazil
Grand Challenges Brazil
Data Science Approaches
1 Nov 2018

By analyzing national children vaccination coverage from spatial perspectives, the study aims to uncover insights into the traditional surveillance. This will help to identify coverage rates, regions of greater vulnerability by providing a differentiated look at the logic of equity in health. Understanding the low childhood vaccination coverage will help to guide public policies for the purpose of interventions.

Data Science to Inform the Design and Evaluation of Interventions to Improve Perinatal Outcomes: Lessons from the Mãe Coruja Program

Jailson CorreiaMunicipal Health SecretariatRecife, Pernambuco, Brazil
Grand Challenges Brazil
Data Science Approaches
1 Nov 2018

The study is aimed at evaluating the effectiveness of Mãe Coruja intervention in reducing low birthweight and preterm birth. By using appropriate statistical methods, the study will use the Cidacs dataset combined with the data from Mãe Coruja program to carry out the quasi-experimental study. With the support of machine learning techniques, the project will also Identify social, economic, geographic and environmental conditions that are associated with the outcomes. The researchers will also build an index of perinatal health risk to inform improvements in targeting populations and the deployment of similar strategies and programs elsewhere in Brazil.

Influenza in Pregnancy and Birth Outcomes in the Brazilian Semi-Arid Region: the INFLUEN-SA Study

Aldo LimaUniversidade Federal do CearáFortaleza, Ceará, Brazil
Grand Challenges Brazil
Data Science Approaches
1 Nov 2018

Studies show that seasonal influenza in Ceará, in the Northeast region of Brazil, occurs 2 to 3 months earlier than in the South and Southeast, which guides the national calendar of vaccination. By using data science approaches, the study will test if Brazil's current national policy targeting vaccination only during the months of April and May inadequately protects against the harmful maternal-fetal effects of influenza in the Semi-Arid and northern regions of Brazil. If the hypothesis confirms, the study has the potential to change policy and modify the vaccination calendar.

Using the 100M Cohort to Establish Critical Air Pollution Thresholds for Safe Childbirth in Brazil

Alexandra BrentaniUniversidade de São PauloSão Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
Grand Challenges Brazil
Data Science Approaches
1 Nov 2018

Does air pollution affect the rates of stillbirths, congenital malformations and neonatal mortality? This study aims to answer this question by merging the child health data collected within the 100 Million Brazilian Cohort from Cidacs with high-resolved satellite-derived data on air pollution to establish critical ambient air pollution thresholds for preventing adverse birth outcomes and malformations based on concentrations of fine particles, PM 2.5.

Use of Interactive Infographic in the PMCP - Analysis of Indicators to Improve the Quality of Maternal and Child Health

Judith KelnerUniversidade Federal de PernambucoCaruaru, Pernambuco, Brazil
Grand Challenges Brazil
Data Science Approaches
1 Nov 2018

The proposal will develop a platform for the analysis and visualization of data that will allow managers, public servants and other stakeholders involved in the Mãe Coruja Program at Pernambuco state (PMCP) to extract strategic information to improve the intervention. The focus will be on the implementation and actual enforcement of public policies, considering the high gestational risk and sexually transmitted infections (STI). Currently, health databases are for consultations only. The innovation of this proposal is to create an intelligent cloud platform for the analysis and distribution of health information to improve health care of women enrolled in PMCP.

Data-Driven Risk Stratification for Preterm Birth in Brazil: Development of a Machine Learning-Based Innovation for Health Care

Erika ThomazUniversidade Federal do MaranhãoSão Luiz, Maranhão, Brazil
Grand Challenges Brazil
Data Science Approaches
1 Nov 2018

Identifying the preventable causes and performing early risk stratification of pregnant women are instrumental to develop strategies to prevent and reduce preterm birth (PTB). The ability to identify at-risk pregnancies and to enroll women in prevention strategies has been difficult due to complexity of associated risk factors. The study aims to combine different national level data sources to understand the main predictors of PTB and develop a machine-learning-based predictive model to conduct automated risk stratification at the point of care level, integrated with advanced data visualization for clinical decision support.

Using Geocoded Big Data to Identify Causal Links Between Infectious Diseases and Child Developmental Outcomes

Rudi RochaFundação Getúlio VargasRio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Grand Challenges Brazil
Data Science Approaches
1 Nov 2018

Infectious diseases may have only transitory impacts on pregnant mothers, but they can have lasting impacts on children. Can public interventions mitigate these impacts? This project aims to identify how exposure to localized epidemiological risk factors in the fetal period influences developmental outcomes for children through the early years of life. The researchers propose to evaluate in what extent the access to primary health care and social welfare programs mitigate negative impacts in child development.

The Intergenerational Impact of Conditional Cash Transfers on Newborn Health

Andreza LucasUniversidade Federal de PernambucoCaruaru, Pernambuco, Brazil
Grand Challenges Brazil
Data Science Approaches
1 Nov 2018

This research aims to analyze the relationship between a conditional cash transfer program and the child's health, considering two generations of the families and using two different approaches: econometric analysis and data mining algorithms. By analyzing the long term impacts of Bolsa Familia program on future generations' health performance, the project will investigate if a child who was born in a family whose grandparents received the cash transfer is in better health conditions than a similar child born in a family whose grandparents did not receive the same benefit.

Makesense Daily: Your Personalized Engagement Journey to Solve the SDGs You Care About

Alizée Lozac'hmeurMakesenseParis, France
Grand Challenges
Global Citizenship
1 Nov 2018

Alizée Lozac'hmeur of Makesense in Paris will develop online mobile and web applications and provide opportunities to engage with experts and funders as part of a tailor-made approach to help young people learn about and solve the health and social issues that matter to them. They will integrate their digital platform, where participants can register their details and issue of interest, with a project database and events calendar to promote collaborations. Users will receive inspiration and advice and be informed of relevant opportunities by frequent emails or mobile phone messages to help them reach their goals. They will integrate the digital services, build a network of community organizers, and launch a marketing strategy to test their approach in France for engaging young people who are interested in solving a specific UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG).

Young Adult Fiction and Technology to Create a Global Citizenship Process

Anna Gabriella CasalmeNovellySouth Gate, California, United States
Grand Challenges
Global Citizenship
1 Nov 2018

Anna Casalme of Novelly in the U.S. will develop a mobile phone application that combines young adult fiction about social issues with learning tasks and international discussion forums to encourage young people to become global citizens and spark their interest in issues such as gender equality and health. Building on their existing program, they will design and develop the application with specific features, add one novel, and pilot test it, before refining the design and opening it to the public. After three months, they will evaluate their approach by collecting user data such as number of users, their reading progress, and participation in discussion groups.

Young Protectors: Mapping, Communicating, and Intervening to Reduce Disease Risk in Low-Income Communities

Hussein KhalilFederal University of Bahia (UFBA)Rio de Janeiro, Bahia, Brazil
Grand Challenges
Global Citizenship
1 Nov 2018

Hussein Khalil of the Federal University of Bahia in Brazil will provide young people in urban slums with knowledge and tools to identify elements that promote the spread of diseases by rats and mosquitos such as dengue and Zika virus infection, and engage their communities to help combat those diseases. They will recruit 40 young residents from two urban slums to test their approach. The youth will be taught to map rat- and mosquito-infested areas and identify possible causes, such as poor waste disposal, by photographing their environments, and to use tools to track rat movements and insect breeding. They will also use gamification methods to stimulate learning and promote collaborations between the youth and adult residents to identify the most effective interventions. Once simple solutions have been identified, the youth will help to implement them in their community and produce and share progress reports using online and offline tools.

Peace First Youth Challenge: Middle East

Eric DawsonPeace First Inc.Boston, Massachusetts, United States
Grand Challenges
Global Citizenship
1 Nov 2018

Eric Dawson of Peace First Inc. in the U.S. will develop a digital platform that provides tools, online mentors, resources, and funding to help young people aged between 13 and 25 in the Middle East solve critical issues in their communities. Their Youth Challenge Platform approach has already shown initial success for over a hundred projects proposed and run by international youth in the U.S. They will adapt their platform for the Middle East by including different languages and tools, particularly to foster cross-cultural collaborations. They will partner with youth organizations in five to 10 Middle Eastern countries and recruit 50 teams of young people who are interested in solving problems related to the UN sustainable development goals. These teams will be supported through the platform to help them design and implement innovative solutions. Surveys and interviews will be used to evaluate the success of their approach in this region.

The SDG Experience - Student Immersion in SDG Solutions Through Virtual Field Trips

Rimjhim AggarwalArizona State UniversityTempe, Arizona, United States
Grand Challenges
Global Citizenship
1 Nov 2018

Rimjhim Aggarwal of Arizona State University in the U.S. will use a digital learning platform and teaching network to teach young people how to create 360-degree spherical imagery of field sites that function as virtual field trips to share their experiences about specific UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and better engage and teach others. These virtual field trips can be distributed on the internet, giving a large number of viewers the sense of actually being in the field, and are thus valuable teaching tools. However, they require specialized skills and equipment to create them. They will teach young people how to make them by holding a workshop to train 20 honors and undergraduate university students to create three new virtual field trips for local SDGs. These will then be presented to other students as part of a university course via a digital learning platform to evaluate their impact.

Enhancing Community Food Security in Urban and Rural Areas Through Outreach Youth Champions (EFSOYC)

Lucy Kathuri-OgolaKenyatta UniversityNairobi, Kenya
Grand Challenges
Global Citizenship
1 Nov 2018

Lucy Kathuri-Ogola of Kenyatta University in Kenya will train young people to be outreach youth champions to support local smallholder farming households with low food security in Kenya by teaching them new agricultural practices and building financial and social support networks. They will develop a mobile phone application and training platform and test their approach in selected rural and urban areas in Kenya where many smallholder farming families rely heavily on food relief. Sixteen young people who are leaving university will be recruited as outreach youth champions and intensively trained over three weeks on best agricultural practices, and financial and support services such as farmer saving groups. The trained youths will then each go back into their own communities and work with ten households to improve overall social and economic status. They will use surveys to evaluate the effect of their approach on food security.

Creatively Empowering Youth and Kid Agripreneurs as Global Citizens to Achieve Food and Nutrition Security by 2050

Alpha SennonWHYFARMSiparia, , Trinidad and Tobago
Grand Challenges
Global Citizenship
1 Nov 2018

Alpha Sennon of WHYFARM in Trinidad and Tobago, along with Wainella Isaacs, Candace Charles-Sennon, Luke Smith, George Caesar, Akinola Sennon and their partners at TECH4Agri, will engage young people, who are the future feeders of 2050, in agriculture, and develop their knowledge and skills so that they can promote sustainable agriculture and improve food security in Trinidad and Tobago. They will implement four related projects in which participants can win cash prizes. These projects include an eight-week training course for ten professionals aged 18 to 30 that provides mentorship and skills to help develop their business plans, tours of ten primary schools with a local youth theater production company to teach nine to eleven year olds about the nutritional and economic value of baigan (eggplant), including a competition to design their own superheroes and nutritious snacks, and focusing their Agricultural Fun, Museum and Food Factory Park for the under 30's to teach visitors about food and local agricultural products using educational games. They will evaluate each project using surveys and metrics such as numbers of participants and related activity on social media.

Offline Teacher Training by Massive Open Online Courses

Romeo RodriguezWorld PossibleIrvine, California, United States
Grand Challenges
Teaching and School Leadership
1 Nov 2018

Romeo Rodriguez of World Possible in the U.S. will use their massive open online courses (MOOC) to provide teachers with advanced practical skills and tools such as inquiry, teamwork, and self-directed learning, to transform teaching and improve student performance in developing countries. The online course also works offline using their low-cost community hotspot. They will implement the courses over twelve months across 15 offline public middle schools in Guatemala and evaluate its impact on teaching methods and whether this can be enhanced by offering additional three-day in-person training. They will also partner with the Ministry of Education and a respected local university to create a digital certification to further motivate teachers to take the course.

Edumocón Móvil: Taking 21st Century Teacher Training to Rural, Post-Conflict Colombia

Henry MaxCoschoolBogota, Cundinamarca, Colombia
Grand Challenges
Teaching and School Leadership
1 Nov 2018

Henry May of Coschool in Colombia will develop an integrated teaching course including in-person boot camps, mobile learning, and online communities, to equip teachers with advanced skills and tools to promote the wellbeing of themselves and their schools and communities. Teaching 21st century skills can help bridge the wide achievement gap between urban and rural communities in Colombia, and also help peace building in post-conflict territory. Their method focuses on five skills: growth mindset, self-awareness, empathy, critical thinking, and grit. To promote teaching of these skills, they have designed an integrated course that involves a six-hour boot camp for effective face-to-face teaching of large numbers of teachers; a twenty-hour course on a mobile, gamified platform; and monthly webinars for small groups with workshops and interactive learning. They will create the new course content and evaluate it by running the program over nine months with 1,000 teachers in five regions in Colombia.

Little Ripples

Sara-Christine DallainiACTRedondo Beach, California, United States
Grand Challenges
Teaching and School Leadership
1 Nov 2018

Sara-Christine Dallain of iACT in the U.S. will train refugee men and women to become skilled and empowered teachers who deliver early childhood care and education to support the social-emotional, cognitive, and physical development of children in refugee camps. Over 11 million children have been forced to flee their homes, challenging their ability to reach their full potential. Many lack the tools needed to adapt to the uncertainty of their present and future. Their program, Little Ripples, is a refugee-led, culturally-inspired, and cost-effective early childhood education program. It provides training for teachers to incorporate skills of empathy, leadership, teamwork, and creative problem-solving when teaching pupils to create an environment that fosters peace, imagination, and connection-to-culture for refugee children. The curriculum has been developed by experts and is adaptable to different contexts, and the program can be led and expanded to other regions by the teachers themselves. They will implement and test their program in refugee communities in eastern Chad, Cameroon, and Greece to evaluate the impact on refugee children.

Project Heartbeat

Malcolm MooiDr CL Smith FoundationJohannesburg, , South Africa
Grand Challenges
Teaching and School Leadership
1 Nov 2018

Malcolm Mooi of the Dr CL Smith Foundation in South Africa will further develop their common online platform for teachers, which provides training, materials, and support to improve the quality of teaching in South Africa. Teachers are the number one drivers of learning in schools, but there is a lack of curriculum and holistic support for teachers in many countries, which has a direct, negative impact on student performance. They will use a variety of mathematical and technological approaches to refine their preliminary platform by adding new features to improve user experience and work to grow an online community of educators and organizers to attract more users. The performance of the platform will be measured by analyzing growth and user engagement. By exploring opportunities to connect the platform and associated data with education councils and corporations and unlock added value for teachers such as rewards and discounts, they aim to elevate the status of teachers in society and further improve teaching quality.

A Digital Platform for 21st Century Education

Saurabh AgarwalDeeper Learning Innovations Private LimitedLucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India
Grand Challenges
Teaching and School Leadership
1 Nov 2018

Saurabh Agarwal of Deeper Learning Innovations Private Limited in India will build an interactive, digital teaching platform using advanced data analytics and artificial intelligence algorithms to enable teachers across the globe to more effectively teach life skills to every child. Teaching standards in developing countries suffer from limited access to quality content, restricted teaching methods for teachers, and a lack of ways to transfer knowledge and skills to other teachers and parents. Life skills such as problem solving and communication that are needed to address 21st century challenges such as health, wellness, and gender equality are far better learned by experience and reflection, rather than reading and lectures. They will build the platform and incorporate life skills modules designed by learning experts and teachers containing multi-lingual and contextualized content for global access, a teacher's discussion forum, and a module designed by teachers to help parents support their child's education. The goal is to make the platform freely available and accessible to all teachers across the globe.

Bringing STEM to Elementary School Teachers Using a Digital Platform

Yen VerhoevenParagon Learning Research GroupAmes, Iowa, United States
Grand Challenges
Teaching and School Leadership
1 Nov 2018

Yen Verhoeven of the Paragon Learning Research Group in the U.S. will create a digital platform for massive open online courses (MOOCs) and a supportive online community of professionals for kindergarten to sixth grade teachers to transform their teaching practices and bring STEM and 21st century skills to their schools. MOOCs were developed as a means to provide free education to everyone. However, their content is typically restricted to videos and reading with little interactive learning, which is inadequate for teaching life skills such as critical thinking and creativity. And encouraging teachers to adopt new teaching practices requires additional professional support from peers and mentors. To address these issues, they will work with teachers and teaching experts to formulate a new MOOC design containing a variety of instructional resources and free professional development classes and develop a beta version of the online community platform. They will evaluate the course by teaching it to local K-6 teachers and gathering feedback to refine the content.

Strengthening Youth Mental Health Outcomes and 21st Century Skills Through Progressive Music Instruction, Wellness and Collaborative Technologies

Anthony KolozettiMy School ROCKSMississauga, Ontario, Canada
Grand Challenges
Teaching and School Leadership
1 Nov 2018

Anthony Kolozetti of My School ROCKS in Canada will develop an educational music application for schools that combines collaborative technology with the universal medium of music to help young people succeed academically and acquire 21st century skills such as mindfulness, stress management, resilience and empathy. Growing numbers of students are suffering from unhappiness at school, experiencing daily anxiety and stress. To address this, they will exploit the synergy between music, education, and mental wellness by creating a platform where students can easily write, record, mix, and share curriculum-based music projects. They will consult with professionals working on neuroplasticity to identify lesson types that have optimal effects on the brain. They will then bring together artists, mental health professionals, technology experts, students, parents, and educators to identify goals and use them to create lesson plans and resources for social emotional learning, song-writing and artistic performance, that can be digitalized in an application. They will also integrate modules that enable students to create their own music-based projects, which can become school-wide performances, without the need for trained music teachers, to showcase songwriting, musicianship, and collaboration. They will pilot test the project over five months in diverse school communities and measure its academic and social impact using surveys and interviews.

A Tutor for Every Child

Hans BrunnerValue Spring Technology, Inc.New York, New York, United States
Grand Challenges
Teaching and School Leadership
1 Nov 2018

Hans Brunner of Value Spring Technology, Inc. in the U.S. will build and test an artificial intelligence (AI) tutor to teach the scientific method and critical thinking skills to individual students at their pace and level. All children learn differently but one-on-one lessons are often prohibitively expensive or unavailable. To address this, in collaboration with two non-profit teaching institutions, they will adapt their AI software for education, and build and train an AI tutor, Ali. Ali will be designed to produce natural sounding language to engage students in conversation involving open-ended questions and answers that stimulate critical thinking, which is based on the Socratic method. Students will be taught at their own pace and level of understanding, and Ali will be built to ensure each topic is fully understood before starting the next. They will engage teachers to test and critique their AI tutor approach and to evaluate its teaching performance.

The Birds and the Bees

Hira ZainabKnowledge Platform LimitedIslamabad, Pakistan
Grand Challenges
Teaching and School Leadership
1 Nov 2018

Hira Zainab of Knowledge Platform Limited in Pakistan will develop a 'Birds and Bees' program to enable teachers and students from underprivileged schools in Islamabad, Pakistan to design and build bird feeders and bee colonies in order to nurture birds and bees and to market honey. Pakistan is home to over 700 species of birds and fauna that can support substantially increased national honey production. They will recruit pilot schools and work together with the teachers and students to research the local bird species in order to design effective bird feeders. They will also design online and printed material that teaches students about nature and science and how to nurture and attract birds and bees and extract and market honey under a social enterprise brand. They will also produce videos to build a community of nature lovers and problem solvers to help teach others about the program.

Move the World to Protect and Empower Victims of Sexual Violence

Amanda NguyenRise IncWashington, District of Columbia, United States
Grand Challenges Explorations
Global Health Solutions
23 Sep 2018

Amanda Nguyen of Rise Inc. in the U.S. will scale-up the existing grassroots social justice movement that they have established in the U.S. to create actionable recommendations to support the rights of survivors of sexual violence worldwide. Thirty-five percent of women – 1.3 billion people worldwide – are survivors of sexual assault, but many are denied basic rights and access to justice. Rise International’s approach involves communicating survivor stories, building alliances with influential people, and maximizing visibility through media coverage.

Measurement of Impact of Hemafuse, An Autologous Blood Transfusion Device

Katie KirschSisu Global HealthTroy, Michigan, United States
Grand Challenges for Development
Saving Lives at Birth
1 Jun 2018

Measurement of Impact of Hemafuse, an autologous blood transfusion device

StandStrong - Sensing Technologies for Maternal Depression

Brandon KohrtGeorge Washington UniversityWashington, District of Columbia, United States
Grand Challenges Explorations
Maternal Mental Health
1 May 2018

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. The tool comprises a mobile phone for the mother and a small Bluetooth beacon attached to the baby's clothes. It can record location via GPS, the proximity between phone and beacon, and sound. They will build sensor data models that can associate specific activity recorded from the sensors with maternal depression, such as the length of time spent with the baby, the level of vocal interactions, and the frequency of outings. A community advisory board composed of young and older mothers, family members, and health workers will be established to evaluate the approach and help test and refine the tools. They will also co-develop a user-friendly interface with the mothers and health workers so that they can easily access the information and use it to improve their mental health.

Unstructured Supplementary Service Data Mobile Technology for Specimen Tracking and Results Delivery

Owens WiwaClinton Health Access InitiativeBoston, Massachusetts, United States
Grand Challenges Explorations
Immunization Delivery
1 May 2018

Owens Wiwa of the Clinton Health Access Initiative in Nigeria will develop an efficient and reliable system for tracking diagnostic samples and delivering results to improve the efficiency of HIV diagnosis and treatment of newborns in Nigeria. Over 3.5 million people in Nigeria are estimated to be living with HIV, and every year up to 40,000 newborns become infected. Many HIV-exposed infants are not properly diagnosed or monitored, leading to delays in treatment and worsening of the disease. With input from health workers and scientists amongst others, they will adapt an existing unstructured supplementary service data (USSD) platform linked to laboratory information management system (LIMS) software so that the health facilities and diagnostic laboratories can track individual samples and monitor results via mobile phone. They will select health facilities and train staff to pilot test the platform over 12 months.

Integrated Support Program Against Anti-Vaccine Narratives

Allya Paramita KoesoemaMasyarakat Elektronika Kesehatan & Telemedika IndonesiaBandung, Jawa Barat, Indonesia
Grand Challenges Explorations
Immunization Delivery
1 May 2018

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. Anti-vaccination narratives, many based on religious misconceptions, have spread through the country, largely via social media, leading to a decrease in child vaccination coverage. Health workers often do not have the knowledge to explain away these misconceptions to mothers when they refuse to have their children vaccinated. To address this, they will engage stakeholders to identify the anti-vaccination messages and build a database of effective reasoning to directly challenge those messages that can be accessed by health workers and other respected, senior community members. They will perform a randomized controlled trial in different districts in Indonesia, and supplement the pro-vaccination messengers with vaccination reminders and schedules sent directly to mothers via mobile phone. They will test the usability of their approach and its effect on the willingness of the mothers to vaccinate.

Enhanced Group Antenatal Care for Adolescents in Mali

Sarah MurrayJohns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public HealthBaltimore, Maryland, United States
Grand Challenges Explorations
Maternal Mental Health
1 May 2018

Sarah Murray and colleagues of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and School of Nursing in the U.S. along with colleagues at the University of Bamako in Mali will develop a group approach to provide better antenatal care to pregnant adolescents in Mali and protect them from common mental disorders such as depression. Over half of adolescent girls in Mali have a child before their 18th birthday, and as a consequence are more likely to live in poverty, be uneducated, and experience violence. Although antenatal health services and support are available, they are limited. To address this, they will develop a group format for more efficient delivery of antenatal mental health care that encourages open discussions and provides social networks and support. This will be done in collaboration with adolescent mothers, their husbands, and health care providers. They will train health care workers to teach relevant coping strategies in a group format using cognitive behavioral therapy techniques, and pilot test their approach on small groups of pregnant adolescents with partners in Bamako, Mali.

"Just-Add-Water" Nucleic Acid Amplification

Apostolos AlissandratosThe Australian National UniversityActon, Australian Capital Territory, Australia
Grand Challenges Explorations
Diagnostics Systems
1 May 2018

Apostolos Alissandratos of the Australian National University in Australia will develop a biotechnology platform for the low-cost production of simple, just-add-water diagnostic tests for the early detection of infectious diseases in resource-limited settings. Diagnosis of infectious diseases generally involves detecting pathogen-specific nucleic acids in human samples, which requires unstable reagents, costly procedures, and skilled workers. They have engineered a safe bacterium that produces the biochemical reagents needed to detect the pathogenic nucleic acids as an extract. They will develop a method to freeze-dry this extract so that it is stable at room temperature, simplifying production and storage, and a protocol for incorporating it into a reaction mixture that only requires the addition of water to an individual tube for a diagnostic polymerase chain reaction. They aim to reduce the cost per test by at least 100-fold, and will evaluate their approach for detecting a malaria-causing pathogen.

Mobile Nudges to Increase Early Vaccination Coverage in Rural Areas - A Pilot Investigation

Günther FinkSwiss Tropical & Public Health InstituteBasel, Switzerland
Grand Challenges Explorations
Immunization Delivery
1 May 2018

Günther Fink of the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute in Switzerland will develop a mobile phone-based system to improve the registration of births and the timeliness of childhood vaccinations in Ghana. Particularly in Northern Ghana, many women give birth at home and are less likely to ensure their infants get vaccinated on time, which exposes them to severe infectious diseases such as polio. Even in these low-resource settings, mobile phones are common, and have been successfully used to encourage healthy behavior. They will develop an automated mobile phone system that rewards users when they record a birth or obtain early vaccination, and sends text reminders to encourage mothers to get their infants vaccinated. They will conduct a pilot study with around 300 mothers and community volunteers in Northern Ghana to assess the feasibility and impact of their approach for improving birth tracking and for convincing mothers to get their child vaccinated within their first month of life.

Optimizing Mother and Child Health and Development in Botswana

Lisa ButlerUniversity of ConnecticutStorrs, Connecticut, United States
Grand Challenges Explorations
Maternal Mental Health
1 May 2018

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. Between 19-25% of women in low- to middle-income countries suffer from depression during pregnancy, which can also have serious effects on the child. In Botswana, there are large numbers of young, single mothers, who lack support and are particularly vulnerable to depression. They will develop the materials and format for their approach with support from a community working group of adolescent mothers and health providers to ensure it is culturally appropriate and addresses their specific needs. They will also incorporate a theoretical model designed to address the triggers and reduce the stigma of mental health disorders. Their approach will be field tested with 80 pregnant adolescents in a traditional village in Botswana to evaluate its feasibility and acceptability.

A Mobile-Based Training Platform for ASHA workers

Pushpendra SinghIIIT-DelhiNew Delhi, Delhi, India
Grand Challenges Explorations
Immunization Delivery
1 May 2018

Pushpendra Singh of IIIT Delhi in India will develop interactive training and mentoring sessions for community health workers in India (ASHAs) using mobile phones and interactive voice response systems so they can provide better public healthcare in rural communities. Current training programs are run by medical professionals and require the workers to visit a health center, which may be inconvenient. The lack of medical experts has also reduced the frequency of these programs. These limitations could be overcome with online sessions whereby one expert trains multiple health workers remotely. They have already developed the format of the sessions, which involves an expert delivering a defined curriculum to groups of health workers followed by a question and answer session, and shown that it improved the knowledge and confidence of the health workers in a pilot test. They will now scale up the testing to 500 health workers, and also evaluate the platform as a peer-to-peer learning mechanism for health workers to share their experiences and learn from each other without the need for an expert.

Using Participatory Quality Improvement Methods to Improve Vaccine Timeliness

Tara HopkinsMali Health Organizing ProjectCambridge, Massachusetts, United States
Grand Challenges Explorations
Immunization Delivery
1 May 2018

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. In southern Mali, particularly in rural communities, most children are born at home, so they are not registered with a health clinic or present for critical childhood vaccinations. Local health services have limited funds and resources to manage the health records of all the babies born in their communities, or to follow-up with families regarding the necessary vaccinations. This translates to low vaccine coverage of around 9% in some regions, and increased incidences of deadly infectious diseases. They will pilot the project in three rural health districts and create a quality improvement team in each, consisting of a coach, local health workers, birth attendants, and mothers. The teams will be given tools to engage in a group effort to identify the barriers to timely vaccinations, and generate solutions to test.

Preparing for Parenthood

Syed Usman HamdaniHuman Development Research FoundationIslamabad, Pakistan
Grand Challenges Explorations
Maternal Mental Health
1 May 2018

Syed Usman Hamdani from the Human Development Research Foundation in Pakistan will develop a program that teaches life skills such as self-awareness, communication, and parenting skills, to adolescent newlyweds in poor areas of Pakistan to help them cope with the challenges of marriage, pregnancy, and bringing up children. Pakistan has one of the highest adolescent birth rates in the world, with 10% of girls giving birth before the age of 18. Many of these girls go to live with their new in-laws, but they lack the skills needed to handle these major events, leaving them more susceptible to mental health issues such as depression. The Thinking Healthy Program is an existing WHO intervention involving community health workers providing coping strategies using cognitive behavioral techniques to depressed young mothers in rural Pakistan. They will develop and incorporate selected life skills into this program, in consultation with young women and other community members, and evaluate its feasibility and impact on mental health in a randomized controlled trial with 60 married women under 19 years old.

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

Xing XieGeorgia Institute of TechnologyAtlanta, Georgia, United States
Grand Challenges Explorations
Diagnostics Systems
1 May 2018

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. Normally, blood and urine samples degrade over time, particularly when they are exposed to heat or cold. This makes the subsequent diagnostic result unreliable. They propose that low-cost, super-absorbent polymers can preserve diagnostic target molecules by separating them from contaminating cells and bacteria, which can be poured away from sample tubes, and providing a pH buffer and preservatives to extend their shelf-life. They will optimize synthesis of the beads and test their ability to preserve different analytical targets including a human virus surrogate and an antibody against HIV.

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

Rebecca DempsterHIASSilver Spring, Maryland, United States
Grand Challenges Explorations
Maternal Mental Health
1 May 2018

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. Digital games can help treat mental health disorders such as depression particularly in young people because they have a natural appeal and are easy to access from home. They will recruit ten young mothers, a psychologist, and software programmers to design a mental health game so that it can be used to identify those with mental health disorders and connect them with counselors, and provides interactive challenges to help treat and protect against those disorders as well as build relevant life skills. They will then train these young mothers to act as mentors to support the online game, and pilot test their approach on a sample of 15 refugee adolescent mothers over three months to evaluate feasibility, acceptability, and effect on maternal depression.

Oral Swabs for TB Diagnosis: Stability, Transport, and Quality Control

Gerard CangelosiUniversity of WashingtonSeattle, Washington, United States
Grand Challenges Explorations
Diagnostics Systems
1 May 2018

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. Oral swabbing to extract saliva is a non-invasive and effective method for diagnosing tuberculosis, and is faster and safer than traditional sputum collection. However, it is more difficult to review the quality of a swab sample as they are hard to see, and processing currently requires refrigeration. To address these limitations, they will develop a low-cost, quality control test with chemical reagents for detecting human mitochondrial DNA using human oral swabs from U.S. volunteers spiked with an avirulent strain of Mycobacterium tuberculosis. This will be coupled to a visual fluorescent readout that can be used to distinguish adequate from inadequate samples. They will also test different buffers for their ability to stabilize the swab samples at different temperatures for up to six months.

"Krik Krak": Mental Health for Pregnant Haitian Teens

Guitele RahillUniversity of South FloridaTampa, Florida, United States
Grand Challenges Explorations
Maternal Mental Health
1 May 2018

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. There has been an increase in unplanned teenage pregnancies since the 2010 earthquake, due in part to the loss of parents, and a rise in transactional sex and sexual assaults facilitated by very limited resources. Pregnancy places a substantial additional stress on these children, which in turn causes long-term difficulties for their children. In Haiti, to tell a story you announce "Krik?", and to hear it you respond "Krak!" They will use this familiar story-telling framework and actors who resemble the target group to teach pregnant teenagers about childbirth, motherhood, and how to cope with depression. They will conduct two focus groups of six pregnant teens to identify the specific challenges they face, and use their feedback to help ensure the approach will work.

Creating Demand for Immunization Through Gameplay

Dyuti SenInnovators in Health (India)Patna, Bihar, India
Grand Challenges Explorations
Immunization Delivery
1 May 2018

Dyuti Sen and Tushar Garg from Innovators in Health in India will test whether a communal game of snakes and ladders in maternity health clinics and in homes of pregnant couples can demonstrate the value of childhood immunization to improve coverage in rural communities in Bihar, India. Gameplay may be a valuable way of informing parents about the importance of immunizing their children because it is fun and interactive. Snakes and ladders, which is a popular game in India, can also visually illustrate the positive (ladder) and negative (snake) effects of immunization, such as the economic cost of having a sick child. The board is built up interactively by the parents as they make choices about vaccinating their children from the start (newborn) to the finish (fully protected child). They will train community health workers to facilitate communal games of snakes and ladders, trial their approach in around 15 municipal wards over 12 months, and determine its impact on immunization coverage and local knowledge.

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

Chiwoneso TinagoWest Chester University of PennsylvaniaWest Chester, Pennsylvania, United States
Grand Challenges Explorations
Maternal Mental Health
1 May 2018

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. Young mothers less than 18 years old in Zimbabwe are often socially isolated due to forced marriages and exclusion from school, and therefore have no help when bringing up their children. This leaves them vulnerable to physical, emotional, and mental health problems, which also harms their children. They will hold one-hour focus groups with around 100 adolescent mothers and other community members including health workers and teachers, to identify the important topics and the best set-up for the support group meetings. They will then train community health workers and educators to run the peer-support groups, and evaluate its effect on depression and anxiety.

Ask, Boost, Connect, Discuss for Improved Mental Health of HIV+ Adolescent Mothers in Africa

Agnes RonanPediatric Adolescent Treatment AfricaCape Town, South Africa
Grand Challenges Explorations
Maternal Mental Health
1 May 2018

Agnes Ronan, from Pediatric Adolescent Treatment Africa, in South Africa will develop a training and supervision tool for young health workers that combines screening and support in an accessible format to reduce depression in HIV-positive, adolescent mothers. There are an estimated two million adolescent mothers living with HIV in Africa, and stigma prevents many of them accessing health care. Young HIV-positive peer supporters work in local clinics and use informal chats, text messages, and home visits to support HIV-positive adolescents. However, they lack the skills to support the mental health of HIV-positive adolescent mothers. They will adapt existing cognitive behavioral therapy methods based on the WHO's Thinking Healthy program, and co-develop their approach with adolescent mothers, peer supporters, and developers. They will train 70 peer supporters from six southern African countries and each will recruit three HIV-positive adolescent mothers to test the approach.

Timeliness of Administering Birthdose Vaccines

Gershim AsikiAfrican Population and Health Research CenterNairobi, Kenya
Grand Challenges Explorations
Immunization Delivery
1 May 2018

Gershim Asiki of the African Population and Health Research Centre in Kenya will develop a mobile phone application and centralized electronic database to link birth records with immunizations to increase the coverage of BCG and polio vaccines in newborns in Kenya. Births and immunizations are initially recorded on paper and then transferred to separate electronic databases, meaning that many infants fail to receive the standard vaccinations on time. They have developed an integrated database that collects both birth and immunization data directly from nurses and health workers via mobile phones. They will evaluate the feasibility of their approach by registering around 450 newborns from an urban slum, and train community health workers to register pregnancies, due dates and delivery dates using the mobile phone application. They will monitor the newborns up to two months after birth, and test the effect of their approach on the timeliness of vaccinations.

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

Jan-Willem AlffenaarUniversity Medical Center GroningenGroningen, Netherlands
Grand Challenges Explorations
Diagnostics Systems
1 May 2018

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). The increased incidence of MDR-TB is due in part to low levels of anti-tuberculosis drugs, thus dosage optimization during treatment is important. However, doing this in low-resource settings is currently challenging. They will develop a method for use in Tanzania to measure the concentration of the anti-TB drug fluoroquinolone in saliva using a battery-operated UV spectrophotometer. They will also modify a high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) platform for detecting drug concentrations in dried blood spots, which are collected on filter paper and do not require refrigeration to remain stable. The on-site saliva test will allow detection of patients with too low levels of drug at risk for treatment failure, who can then have their dose optimized following the more detailed dried blood spot analysis at a centralized laboratory.

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

Folusho BalogunUniversity of Ibadan, College of MedicineIbadan, Nigeria
Grand Challenges Explorations
Immunization Delivery
1 May 2018

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. Many young children in Nigeria, particularly those in urban slums, are not fully immunized, or are immunized too late, leading to an unacceptably high under-five mortality rate. This is due in part to the mothers not understanding how critical immunizations are. In many African nations, the care of young children is also overseen by older women in the community such as grandmothers or neighbors. They hypothesize that training these older women to be formally involved in promoting immunizations will help to ensure all children complete the full package on time. They will select five urban slum communities in southwest Nigeria and use focus group discussions to explore the views of the older women on current immunization programs. They will use this to design a manual to train a group of older women who will be associated with pregnant women in the community, and evaluate the effect on immunization of the infants up to nine months.

Tracking Demographic Movements and Immunization Status to Improve Children's Access to Immunization

Jerome AteudjieuMeillerur Acces aux Soins de SanteYaounde, Cameroon
Grand Challenges Explorations
Immunization Delivery
1 May 2018

Jerome Ateudjieu of Meillerur Acces aux Soins de Sante in Cameroon will test whether training community volunteers to record demographic movements and monitor births and immunizations of residents and visitors in their villages can improve timely childhood vaccination coverage in Cameroon. Many health districts in Cameroon have reported outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases. One underlying cause is that many people in these regions travel extensively, making it difficult for health facilities to identify newborns that need vaccinating, and to inform parents when and where the necessary vaccinations can be received. They will select 60 villages in the Noun Health District of West Cameroon, and train community volunteers to record the movements and immunization status of infants up to 11 months in their village. These records will be sent by the WhatsApp mobile messaging application to the relevant health facility to identify the children eligible for the next immunization session. The necessary appointments will then be communicated back to the parents by the community worker, who will also inform them of the importance of timely immunization, and encourage pregnant mothers to give birth in health facilities.

Vaccination Beads: A Visual and Digital Vaccination Record

Arun ShanbhagManipal Academy of Higher EducationManipal, Karnataka, India
Grand Challenges Explorations
Immunization Delivery
1 May 2018

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. Vaccinations are recorded on paper, which are easy to lose and make it difficult for health workers to monitor children in migrant communities. They created beaded bracelets that can store vaccine records on a digital tag, and have developed a mobile application that can read the tag using an Android smartphone. In consultation with local communities, they have also developed a universal color code for the beads to represent the required individual vaccines so that they can be easily monitored by health workers. They will now evaluate their approach in a larger study across five villages to assess its overall performance including the stability of the records over time, data storage capacity, the effect on vaccination coverage, and ease of use.

Indigenous Communities Mobilize for Adolescent Girls' Healthy Minds

Anne Marie ChomatMcGill UniversityMontreal, Quebec, Canada
Grand Challenges Explorations
Maternal Mental Health
1 May 2018

Anne Marie Chomat of McGill University in Canada will design an intervention to overcome the mental health problems faced by young mothers in Guatemala by engaging them, along with their partners and fathers, elders, and adolescents in their communities, in order to address the complex factors affecting maternal health. Women in Maya indigenous areas of Guatemala, which has recently faced a civil war, experience particularly high rates of poverty, gender inequality, adolescent births, and mental health disorders. This in turn harms their children, with over 50% suffering from severe developmental delays. They recognize that community members are best placed to find solutions to their own problems and can better promote community-level change. So, they will engage community members from multiple generations and positions, including traditional healers and spiritual leaders, to co-develop an intervention. Their project will take place in four communities in two rural regions of Guatemala, and the community groups will work together to define the problems and contribute to designing and implementing the intervention.

Pages

  • Currently on page 1
  • Page 2
  • Page 3
  • Page 4
  • Page 5
  • Next page
  • Last page
Sort by:
Date Awarded
Title (A-Z)
10
25
50
100

Contact us

Contact us

  • General Inquiries
  • Media Inquiries

Footer - Receive Updates

Receive updates

  • Sign up for email updates

Footer

  • Privacy Policy and Terms of Use
© 2003-2019. Grand Challenges. All Rights Reserved.

PLEASE REVIEW OUR UPDATED PRIVACY & COOKIES NOTICE

This site uses cookies and similar technologies to store information on your computer or device. By continuing to use this site, you agree to the placement of these cookies and similar technologies. Read our updated Privacy & Cookies Notice to learn more.