Stars in global health

Seed funding for bold, early-stage ideas with the potential to transform lives and communities

Bold ideas start here.

At Grand Challenges Canada, we believe the world’s most urgent health challenges demand bold thinking—especially from those closest to the problem. Our Stars in Global Health program backs visionary innovators—scientists, entrepreneurs, and change-makers—who are ready to test powerful new ideas that could transform lives.

We fund at the earliest stage, where risk is highest but potential is greatest. This is where big impact begins.

Our Approach

Stars in Global Health serves as our innovation pipeline and testing ground for breakthrough solutions across health sectors. We identify and support bold ideas at their earliest stages, when a small investment can catalyze outsized impact. Our platform is designed to surface solutions that traditional funding mechanisms might overlook.

Our flexible platform allows us to rapidly respond to emerging global health priorities, pilot new approaches to inclusive funding, and partner strategically with regional innovation hubs. It also enables us to test models that can be adopted across our organization and generate a strong pipeline of solutions ready to transition to scale.

Our impact

Since 2010, Stars in Global Health has become a transformative force in global health innovation:

Invested in more than

880 unique innovations

across 15 funding rounds

Implemented in

88 low-and middle-income countries

Invested

$92 million

to test promising innovations around the world

Saved more than

200 lives

through critical support and protection services

In our portfolio,

61%

of innovations are led by institutions in low- and middle-income countries

In our portfolio,

39%

of innovations are led by women-identified innovators

Stars portfolios

Our platform continuously evolves to address the most pressing global health challenges. We are currently funding seed grants in the following areas:

Innovations addressing the health impacts of climate change, in partnership with the South African Medical Research Council. Meet the 42 innovators in our portfolio.

Interventions to enhance surveillance and outbreak response capabilities, in partnership with Grand Challenges Senegal. Learn more about this funding call.

Solutions catalyzing ethical and equitable artificial intelligence applications, in partnership with Grand Challenges Senegal and the Grand Challenges Network. Learn more.

Innovations increasing access to quality maternal and newborn health services through the Country Innovation Platform Ghana pilot, a partnership between Grand Challenges Canada, the Ghana Health Service, USAID’s Center for Innovation and Impact and AMP Health. Learn more about the Ghana Country Innovation Platform partnership.