Gates Foundation – Grand Challenges Campaign

October 1, 2019 by dld5dt@virginia.edu

Purpose

We are seeking innovative solutions that accelerate the improvement of coverage, reach, efficiency, and effectiveness of health campaigns.

Specifically, we are looking for innovations in approaches, practices, or tools that dramatically improve the planning and microplanning, implementation / operations, and monitoring and evaluation that will lead to improved effectiveness of campaigns.

 

Background

Countries rely on both routine health systems and campaign-based delivery to extend the reach of important health interventions such as accelerated disease control and delivery of life-saving health products and services. Many programs, including immunization, neglected tropical diseases, nutrition, malaria, and polio regularly rely on such campaigns to manage the spread of disease and achieve large scale health impact.

Campaign-based delivery of health interventions is typically time-limited, targeted, and implemented at-scale. All countries utilize health campaigns in some capacity – such as outbreak response – and campaigns have shown to be an effective way of driving health impact. For example, Vitamin A supplementation is estimated to reduce risk of all-cause child mortality by 12%.1 Measles campaigns are estimated to reach 66% of “zero-dose” children who are not otherwise immunized by routine health systems.2

Still, the performance of campaigns is variable, and campaigns often do not realize their potential impact. For example, only 44% of the measles campaigns and 31% of mass drug administration for NTDs conducted in 2017 reached their intended coverage targets.3 Campaign evaluations may also show they consistently miss a subset of populations, resulting in reduced equity and coverage of the health intervention.

Although many campaigns experiement with or implement innovations to increase effectiveness, these innovations are rarely systematically evaluated, iterated upon, and disseminated.

We believe there is opportunity to dramatically improve the way health campaigns realize impact – including achieving higher coverage of health interventions, better identifying and reaching the highest risk populations, and improving efficiency of campaign resources.

 

Key Dates

Date Open: 18-September-2019

Deadline: 13-November-2019 at 11:30 AM PST.

 

Web-link for more information:

https://gcgh.grandchallenges.org/challenge/innovations-improving-impact-health-campaigns-round-24

Filed Under: Funding Opportunities