To develop groundbreaking prevention and treatment approaches for pregnant women and newborns who live in rural, low-resource settings around the time of delivery.

We seek innovative ideas that can leapfrog conventional approaches in three main domains: (1) technology; (2) service delivery; and (3) “demand side” innovation that empowers women and their families to be aware of, and access, health care at the time of birth.

We encourage approaches and partnerships from a wide range of solvers – public and private, universities and communities – incorporating the latest scientific, technological, information and communication advances into audacious yet achievable solutions.

The Problem

•The onset of labor marks the start of a high-risk period for both mother and baby that does not ease until at least 48 hours after birth. During this short period of time, 1.2 million stillbirths, almost a million newborn deaths, and 42% of maternal deaths occur each year.

•Almost all of these deaths are in low- and middle-income countries, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, which also have the lowest use of hospitals for delivery or newborn care. Less than half the women deliver in hospitals, and uptake of many potentially life-saving interventions aimed at the mother or infant are equally low. In those locations, people often have few resources, little or no electricity, lack of clean water, and poor transportation. There are also few trained health professionals or functional hospitals.

•This leaves poor, rural women, who have the greatest geographical and financial challenges in securing the care of skilled birth attendants, at the highest risk of poor pregnancy outcomes. Local cultures, traditions, and beliefs may also prevent women from seeking and receiving life-saving care at the time of birth.

•For the mother, the critical conditions occurring during pregnancy and after labor include hemorrhage, hypertensive disorders (e.g., preeclampsia), serious infections, and obstructed labor, which account for 59% of maternal deaths in poor countries. For the newborn, the critical conditions occurring after birth are serious infections, complications of preterm birth, and birth asphyxia, which account for 76% of neonatal deaths. Important causes of stillbirth include many conditions, such as hemorrhage, fetal bacterial infection, obstructed labor, syphilis, and malaria.

Solutions Must

•Be novel: We seek proposals that may be “off the beaten track,” daring in premise, and are clearly differentiated from approaches currently being developed or employed.

•Be able to be monitored, measured and evaluated

Road Should

•Enhance uptake, acceptability and provide for sustained use

•Enable or provide for low-cost solutions

•Have a strong likelihood of achieving a substantial impact on one or more important adverse maternal, fetal, or neonatal health conditions described above

•Be scalable in resource-poor settings

Areas where we believe solutions may lie

•Technology, particularly Information & communication technology (ICT) or other technologies for use in rural, low-resource settings

•Service delivery models

•Demand analysis and stimulation