Innovation and Impact Newsletter - November 2018
by
Portal Web Editor
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last modified
Dec 01, 2018 10:55 PM
Contributors:
Center for Innovation and Impact
In this issue: American Innovation Breathes New Life into Newborns in Malawi; USAID Medium Story: Disrupting the Status Quo from the Front Lines; World Pneumonia Day Highlights.
FEATURE
American Innovation Breathes New Life into Newborns in Malawi
Prematurity is the number one cause of child mortality in the world. Through the Saving Lives at Birth Grand Challenge, USAID provided funding for an innovative, low-cost continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machine developed by students at Rice University to save the lives of premature babies. The device has been scaled up in hospitals across Malawi and is now scaling up across Africa and the world. Watch this newly released video, which features the CPAP in action, its developer, and a neonatal nurse in Malawi who is a “CPAP champion” and teaches others to use the device.
INNOVATION
Disrupting the Status Quo from the Front Lines
In honor of World Prematurity Day on November 17th, CII's Sofia Stafford wrote a blog for USAID Medium highlighting the ways in which innovation can help turn insurmountable development challenges into solvable problems. Disrupting the Status Quo from the Front Lines features five promising innovations, supported by the Agency and partners through Saving Lives at Birth, that are making a difference in the lives of newborns around the world.
MARKET ACCESS
World Pneumonia Day Highlights
Pneumonia is the leading cause of death of children under 5 worldwide. In recognition of World Pneumonia Day on November 12th, USAID’s CII, Office of Maternal and Child Health and Nutrition, and Missions shared their work through partnerships such as the Every Breath Counts Coalition to help reduce childhood pneumonia in Nigeria, and the United4Oxygen Alliance to strengthen oxygen delivery in Ethiopia. Learn more about these partnerships and other efforts.
PARTNERSHIPS
Exploring Opportunities for Artificial Intelligence in Global Health
CII is partnering with The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and The Rockefeller Foundation to explore how to amplify and accelerate the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in global health. This month we hosted a convening in Washington, DC to incorporate perspectives from public and private stakeholders in global health, venture capital, and technology. The work broadly will synthesize input from experts such as Babylon, Google, Verily, Microsoft, the World Bank, Human Dx, Wadhwani AI, Living Goods, and many more. We look forward to sharing our findings and market shaping opportunities in a public event later this winter.
INNOVATION
Request for Applications: Expanding Cervical Cancer Screening & Preventive Therapy
USAID recently released a request for applications for Expanding Cervical Cancer Screening and Preventative Therapy (CCS&PT) through Introducing New Technologies and Integrating with Voluntary Family Planning. This PEER sub-program, sponsored by the Agency and implemented by the U.S. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, seeks to facilitate the introduction and scale-up of innovative CCS&PT approaches in Malawi and Mozambique. Partnership proposals are due by December 11, 2018 and should be submitted through the PEER online web platform. Learn more
EVENTS
November 28–30, 2018
Global Health Supply Chain Summit
Lusaka, Zambia
Lusaka, Zambia
November 30, 2018
December 10–11, 2018
Global Digital Health Network, Washington DC
April 13–14, 2019
NEWS
Devex
November 14, 2018
Reuters
November 13, 2018
Johnson & Johnson
Asia Sentinel
The Guardian
October 31, 2018
CII is Hiring!
CII Open Position
CII NEWS
Stanford Social Innovation Review featuring Saving Lives at Birth grantee
German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development
USAID Medium featuring Fighting Ebola grantee
October 26, 2018
WHAT WE'RE READING
ABC News
Save the Children
International Vaccine Access Center at Johns Hopkins School of Public Health
Globalization and Health
JustActions
International Telecommunication Union and Digital Impact Alliance
Harvard Business Review
CII Partner Spotlight
Cara Thanassi, Acting Division Chief of the Empowerment & Inclusion Division, USAID
“CII has been with us every step of the way. In addition to the wealth of technical expertise and experience the CII staff bring to the table, their commitment and curiosity has made them not only an invaluable partner but also a great pleasure to work with.”
USAID's Center for Innovation and Impact (CII) takes a business-minded approach to fast-tracking the development, introduction and scale-up of health interventions that address the world's most important health challenges. CII invests seed capital in the most promising ideas and novel approaches, using forward-looking business practices to cut the time it takes to transform discoveries in the lab to impact on the ground.