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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.

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Helminth ABC Transporters as Targets for Combination Therapy

Robert GreenbergUniversity of PennsylvaniaPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Grand Challenges Explorations
Neglected Tropical Diseases
7 Oct 2013

Robert Greenberg of the University of Pennsylvania in the U.S., along with Bernadette Ardelli of Brandon University in Canada, will test whether anthelmintics, which are drugs used to treat diseases caused by parasitic worms, can be improved by combining them with inhibitors of ATP-binding cassette (ABC) multidrug transporters. Of the few anthelmintics available, many are of limited use or become ineffective due to the emergence of drug resistance. ABC multidrug transporters regulate the transport of molecules, including drugs, into and out of the cell and have been linked with anthelmintic resistance. ABC transporter inhibitors, which have been approved for use in humans, enhance the activity of anti-parasitic drugs in vitro and may bypass the development of drug resistance. The investigators will use in vivo mouse models of helminth infections to test whether co-administering ABC transporter inhibitors enhances anthelmintic activity, with a view to carrying out clinical trials in humans.

Deconstructing Barriers to Uptake of Labor Saving Devices

James PimunduSend a Cow RwandaKigali, Rwanda
Grand Challenges Explorations
Women Farmers
4 Oct 2013

James Pimundu and team from Send a Cow Rwanda in Rwanda will test whether educating men and women in Rwanda on gender barriers and social behavior issues stimulates them to use energy-saving stoves for cooking. Although affordable energy-saving stoves are available, they are not widely adopted, possibly because women have limited access to money and lack the power to make decisions. They will train both men and women to inform them of gender barriers in order to reduce inequality. By promoting better technology uptake in this way they aim to substantially reduce the time and labor costs of collecting firewood, as well as empowering the women to take control of other important family issues such as health and child care.

Using Sensors to Understand Insect-Vectored Neglected Infectious Diseases

Yanping ChenUniversity of California, RiversideRiverside, California, United States
Grand Challenges Explorations
Neglected Tropical Diseases
4 Oct 2013

Yanping Chen of the University of California, Riverside in the U.S. will develop an inexpensive and robust sensor to directly measure the real-time density of insect vectors that transmit parasitic diseases to help plan intervention and treatment programs. Preliminary results indicate that insects can be classified based on the frequency of their wingbeats, which also varies depending on the time of day. Chen will develop an accurate detection system by investigating combining wingbeat frequency with circadian rhythms and other behaviors. A software system will also be produced that can translate the data into real-time counts of insect numbers and produce density maps of their distribution. The sensors will be field tested in Cameroon and Cambodia/Thailand.

Box in a Truck to Transport and Store Cassava

Nnaemeka IkegwuonuThe Smallholders FoundationOwerri, Imo State, Nigeria
Grand Challenges Explorations
Women Farmers
2 Oct 2013

Nnaemeka Ikegwuonu of the Smallholders Foundation in Nigeria will improve his Box-in-a-Truck design for extending the lifespan of cassava, which is a major staple food grown by women smallholder farmers, to decrease labor costs associated with cassava processing. Cassava spoils within 24 hours of harvesting, and the traditional method of prolonging life by leaving the crops longer in the ground reduces the nutritional content. He has designed a small, manually transportable truck containing a wire box that is surrounded by moist sawdust and can hold 145 pieces of cassava. This Box in a Truck is inexpensive and can be locally manufactured and maintained. Initial tests showed that cassava stored in this way lasted the duration of the 16 day study period and retained more nutrients than when it is left in the ground. He will test extended time spans and optimize parameters for use, and then field-test the device for its capacity to save labor and its suitability for local conditions across different seasons using 200 women smallholder farmers.

A Time-Saving Tool for Stripping Groundnut Pods

Tobias OkerNational Agricultural Research OrganizationKampala, Uganda
Grand Challenges Explorations
Women Farmers
2 Oct 2013

Tobias Oker and a team from the National Agricultural Research Organization in Uganda will develop a simple plucking tool to more efficiently remove the pods from groundnuts, which is currently done by hand and is labor-intensive and time-consuming for women. They will query farming communities on current harvesting methods to refine their design, and evaluate performance, labor cost, and perceptions in the field using prototypes compared to traditional methods. They will also train users and local manufacturers to fabricate the tools and encourage their use.

Labor-Saving Pearl Millet Thresher for sub-Saharan Africa

Donna CohnHampshire CollegeAmherst, Massachusetts, United States
Grand Challenges Explorations
Women Farmers
2 Oct 2013

Donna Cohn and colleagues from Hampshire College in the U.S. will develop a cheap and simple threshing machine to more easily and carefully process pearl millet, which is a highly nutritious staple cereal grown in sub-Saharan Africa. To extract the edible grains, pearl millet is currently processed by hand, which is labor-intensive and highly inefficient, causing substantial reductions in yield. They will refine their thresher design, including producing variations for powering it, and field-test prototypes in Ghana for performance. This will drive further refinements to generate a final design, for which production costs will be determined.

Designing for Female Ergonomic and Cultural Appropriateness

William KisaalitaUniversity of Georgia Research Foundation, Inc.Athens, Georgia, United States
Grand Challenges Explorations
Women Farmers
2 Oct 2013

William Kisaalita of the University of Georgia in the U.S. will redesign a milk churner to make it suitable for women in order to reduce the time and labor needed to make ghee. In many sub-Saharan countries, the morning milk harvested from cattle can be sold in markets, but the milk harvested in the evening needs to be processed into longer-lasting products such as ghee to prevent it from perishing. The current method for churning milk to make ghee is time and labor intensive. He will recruit women in Uganda to test and refine the milk churner design, which is cheap and can be locally manufactured and repaired, to make it more ergonomic and culturally appropriate for women users and thereby promote its widespread adoption.

Draught Power for Women Farmers through Donkey Ploughs

Sara DelaneyEpiscopal Relief and DevelopmentNew York, New York, United States
Grand Challenges Explorations
Women Farmers
2 Oct 2013

Sara Delaney of Episcopal Relief & Development in the U.S. and Ghanaian colleagues will promote the use of donkeys with ploughs for draught power to decrease labor and increase productivity of women smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa. Traditionally, oxen are used as draught animals but they are often unavailable to women due to cost, gender and cultural issues, and their large size makes them difficult for women to handle. The donkey ploughs are suitable for weeding and preparing land for a variety of crops, and can be locally manufactured and maintained. The Ghanaian team will run training workshops in northern Ghana for women smallholder farmers currently using hand tools, and provide two affordable financing options for them to purchase the donkey, plough, and cart. Performance, financial aspects, and the level of adoption will then be evaluated.

Market-Based Labor-Saving Weeder Promotion

Brian LundOxfam-America IncBoston, Massachusetts, United States
Grand Challenges Explorations
Women Farmers
2 Oct 2013

Brian Lund and colleagues from Oxfam America in the U.S. will work in Cambodia to increase the use of labor-saving weeders by smallholder women farmers there. Rice cultivation is the primary source of food and income for these households, and weeding crops requires substantial time and physical effort. Cheap, easy to use, and effective mechanical weeders have been developed and tailored for smallholder women rice farmers, but they have yet to be widely adopted due to limited marketing and inadequate local fabrication and distribution capabilities. They will work with a group of local metal fabrication businesses and distributors to demonstrate the profit potential and train them to manufacture the weeders. They will also launch a marketing campaign, including local advertising and demonstrations aimed at women farmers, to stimulate demand.

Preventing Preterm Birth in Zambia

Jeffrey StringerUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel HillChapel Hill, North Carolina, United States
Grand Challenges in Global Health
Preventing Preterm Birth
1 Oct 2013

Jeffrey Stringer of the University of North Carolina Global Women’s Health group in the U.S. will oversee a team of Zambian and U.S. researchers in a prospective cohort study of 2,000 pregnant women over a three-year period in Lusaka, Zambia. The study will assess gestational age by early ultrasound and collect data and specimens throughout pregnancy and at delivery with standardized systems to document complications of pregnancy and assessment of birth outcomes. Data and specimens will be used to evaluate the causes of preterm birth and investigate novel strategies for prevention.

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