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. To read more about the new grants please visit http://www.grandchallenges.org/Explorations/Pages/GrantsAwarded.aspx.
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."
The foundation is currently accepting proposals for Round 7 of Grand Challenges Explorations until May 19, 2011 on the following topics, the first two of which are new:
* Explore Nutrition for Healthy Growth of Infants and Children
* Apply Synthetic Biology to Global Health Challenges
* The Poliovirus Endgame: Create Innovative Ways to Accelerate, Sustain, and Monitor Eradication
* Create the Next Generation of Sanitation Technologies
* Design New Approaches to Cure HIV Infection
* Create Low-Cost Cell Phone-Based Solutions for Improved Uptake and Coverage of Childhood Vaccinations
Applicants can be at any experience level; in any discipline; and from any organization, including colleges and universities, government laboratories, research institutions, non-profit organizations and for-profit companies. Initial grants will be US $100,000 each, and projects showing promise will have the opportunity to receive additional funding of up to US $1 million.
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