The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation today announced 88 grants to explore bold and largely unproven ways to improve global health. The grants of US$100,000 each will be made to researchers from 25 countries. This marks the sixth round of funding from Grand Challenges Explorations, an initiative to help lower the barriers for testing innovative ideas in global health.
Projects selected for funding focused on polio eradication and vaccines, cell-phone applications for global health, new approaches to cure HIV, sanitation technologies, and new ideas to improve the health of mothers and newborns.
Winners were selected from more than 2,500 proposals and approximately 100 countries. They represent a wide range of backgrounds and disciplines, including health researchers, computer and electronic engineers, and entrepreneurs.
“One bold idea is all it takes to catalyze new approaches to global health and development,” said Dr. Tachi Yamada, president of Global Health at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. “Despite the progress in global health and development, we vitally need creative ideas to discover and deliver life-saving vaccines, eradicate the next disease or slow the spread of preventable diseases.”