— Country Innovation Platform Ghana Pilot will support local innovations with $2MCAD in seed funding to address maternal and newborn health in six priority regions across Ghana —
June 14, 2023 (Accra) — Ghana Health Service (GHS), in partnership with USAID’s Center for Innovation and Impact (CII) and USAID/Ghana, Grand Challenges Canada (GCC), AMP Health and others across the healthcare ecosystem, has launched a call for African innovations that will improve the delivery of maternal and newborn health care in underserved regions of Ghana.
The Country Innovation Platform (CIP) Ghana Pilot aims to identify new innovations to improve maternal and newborn health in Ghana. The platform will award $2M CAD in catalytic funding to eligible health innovators. Funding decisions will be made by Ghana Health Service, in collaboration with country-based stakeholders, with international donors supporting the investment.
The goal of this partnership is to save the lives of Ghanaian women and children by funding innovative projects with real-world impact on maternal and newborn healthcare in Ghana. Through this innovative model, Ghana Health Services is leading the way by bringing together funders that are willing to invest in solutions that will strengthen healthcare systems across the country as well as provide improved care to mothers and their newborns.
This bold new initiative aims to address gaps in maternal and newborn health by identifying transformative ideas and providing them with seed grants of CAD $200,000 to CAD $250,000 for a period of 12 to 18 months to develop and test the proposed innovation in six priority regions in Ghana.
The platform will fund innovations that address one of four priority health challenges identified during a co-creation workshop hosted by Ghana Health Service and its partners: improved communication and real-time tracking of information along the patient referral journey for mothers and newborns; increased accessibility and availability of transport for pregnant women and mothers of newborns to reach health facilities, especially in emergencies; improved skills of healthcare workers to deliver high-quality emergency maternal and newborn health services, and increased availability of essential medicines and supplies for mothers and newborns.
The Country Innovation Platform Ghana Pilot will accept submissions from across Northern, Western, Central, Eastern and Southern Africa and will award up to $2M CAD in funding, with priority given to Ghana-based innovators. Innovations are expected to be piloted in at least two of the six priority regions of Ghana: Western, Upper East, Upper West, Northeast, Northern, and Savannah. Each selected innovation will also play a role in building Ghana Health Service’s bold Networks of Practice initiative and will contribute to building a broader health ecosystem across the country. As they implement their novel approaches to addressing challenges in maternal and newborn health, innovators will have the opportunity to share their lessons on how to design an innovation process that is tailored to locally defined needs.
The full Request for Proposals (RFP) is available [at this link]. Innovators should register for a Fluxx account via Grand Challenges Canada’s Fluxx Portal: https://gcc.fluxx.io/ by Wednesday, July 26, 2023, at 11:59 pm EDT (July 27, 2023, at 3:59 am GMT) and submit their application by Wednesday, August 2, 2023, at 12 pm EDT (4 pm GMT).
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About Ghana Health Service (GHS):
Housed under Ghana’s Ministry of Health, the Ghana Health Service (GHS) works at the regional, district and sub-district levels of Ghana to provide all communities with timely, quality, and comprehensive health care in accordance with national policies. For the CIP pilot in Ghana, GHS led the co-creation process to identify health priorities and provides leadership and guidance to partners and innovators. https://www.moh.gov.gh/ghana-health-service/
About USAID
The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is the lead U.S. government agency that works to end extreme global poverty and enable resilient democratic societies to realize their potential. USAID’s Center for Innovation and Impact (CII) takes strategic risks to incubate new ideas, put them into practice, and scale effective approaches for critical health issues. USAID/Ghana, together with the CII, is playing a leading role in the design and launch of the Country Innovation Platform in Ghana. Learn more: https://www.usaid.gov/
About Grand Challenges Canada:
Grand Challenges Canada funds and supports innovators in low- and middle-income countries and Canada to seed and transition to scale their Bold Ideas with Big Impact®. Funded by the Government of Canada and other partners, Grand Challenges Canada has supported more than 1,500 innovations in 96 countries since 2012. These innovations are expected to save up to 1.78 million lives and improve up to 64 million lives by 2030. https://www.grandchallenges.ca/
About AMP Health:
AMP Health supports governments to build visionary and effective public sector teams and helps them develop the necessary leadership and management skills to achieve their ambitious goals. For the CIP pilot in Ghana, AMP Health has embedded a private sector “Management Partner” within the Ghana Health Service to ensure innovations respond to country priorities, serve as the in-country coordinator of the Country Innovation Platform, and help bolster the broader innovation ecosystem. AMP Health also creates in-person and online opportunities for teams to connect with peers from other regions, share their experiences, identify best practices, and support one another through challenges. Learn more: https://www.amphealth.org/
MEDIA CONTACT: Maryam Mirza
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