Pharmaceutical giant GSK and UK-based NGO Save the Children are calling for applications for this year’s $1m Healthcare Innovation Award, the winners of which would help improve survival rates of newborns and children under five in developing countries.
A press release yesterday read that organisations from across the developing world can now apply for this year’s Healthcare Innovation Award. Applications must be for innovative healthcare approaches that have resulted in tangible improvements to survival rates of children under five, and which are sustainable and have the potential to be scaled-up and replicated. This year, special interest and attention will be given to work that aims to increase the quality of, or access to, healthcare for newborns.
Five organisations based in developing countries – who each received a share of the 2013 Healthcare Innovation Award – are now helping shape national health agendas and influencing approaches to healthcare for children and newborns, the press release added.
The top-prize winner from 2013 was a low cost Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) kit, developed by Friends of Sick Children (FOSC) in Malawi. This device helps premature and newborn babies who are suffering from breathing related issues to breathe more easily, and has the potential to save the lives of 178,000 African children each year if implemented continent-wide.