GSK and Save the Children launch $1 million award to discover new healthcare innovations for reducing child deaths

- The Healthcare Innovation Award is the first joint initiative announced following the launch of an ambitious new partnership between GSK and Save the Children which aims to save the lives of a million of the world’s poorest children.

Issued: London, UK

GSK and Save the Children today launched a $1 million Healthcare Innovation Award to identify and reward innovations in healthcare which have proven successful in reducing child deaths in developing countries.

From the 27^th June – 26^th August, organisations from across the developing world can nominate examples of innovative healthcare approaches they have discovered or implemented. These approaches must have resulted in tangible improvements to under-5 child survival rates, be sustainable and have the potential to be scaled-up and replicated.

Co-chaired by Sir Andrew Witty, CEO of GSK, and Justin Forsyth, CEO of Save the Children, the Judging Panel, made up of experts from the fields of public health, science and academia, will award $250,000 to the best healthcare innovation to further progress their work. An additional $750,000 is available for runners-up awards.

The award will also provide a platform for winning organisations to showcase their innovations and share information to enable others with an interest in improving healthcare to adapt and replicate successful interventions and create more positive change for children in their own country and beyond.

While good progress has been made in recent years, worldwide 6.9 million children every year still die before their fifth birthday. Often these children are in the most remote and marginalised communities and in order to bring life-saving healthcare to these hardest to reach children, ambitious new ideas and approaches are needed. The GSK and Save the Children Healthcare Innovation Award aims to discover and encourage replication of the best and most innovative examples of healthcare to have the biggest impact for vulnerable children. 

Sir Andrew Witty, CEO of GSK said: “Often the best solutions to a particular challenge come from those living and working closest to it. We recognise this and we are committed to supporting those working in the world’s poorest countries to improve health outcomes. This award will identify the most effective ideas being put into practice in developing countries and, by providing much needed funding, will enable these innovations to be scaled-up to reduce childhood deaths and will inspire others in the process.”

Justin Forsyth, Chief Executive, Save the Children UK said: “We believe that we can be the generation to stop children dying from preventable causes - but this can only happen by working in partnership and finding new, innovative ways to get to the hardest to reach children. Through the GSK and Save the Children Healthcare Innovation Award, we can identify and support new and exciting examples of innovation from emerging and developing countries, in order to save more children’s lives.”

The impact of simple, low-cost innovations can be illustrated through the example of Kangaroo Mother Care which has been shown to reduce the number of babies dying in developing countries. Originally developed by Colombian paediatrician Edgar Rey, Kangaroo Mother Care is a simple technique which promotes early skin-to-skin contact between mothers and their premature and new-born babies. Mothers act as human incubators, keeping their babies warm and regulating their heartbeats.  It is now used widely by Save the Children and many other organisations around the world.

The Healthcare Innovation Award is the first joint initiative to be announced following the launch of GSK and Save the Children’s ambitious new partnership in May this year, aiming to save the lives of 1 million children over the next five years. One of the most unique aspects of the partnership is the focus on working together to maximise innovations to tackle under-5 child mortality. For example, Save the Children will be involved in helping GSK to research and develop child-friendly medicines, with a seat on a new paediatric R&D board to accelerate progress on innovative life-saving interventions for under-fives, and to identify ways to ensure the widest possible access in the developing world.

Recognising that innovation can take many shapes and forms, the criteria for entry are broad and can include approaches that focus on any aspect of healthcare, including science, nutrition, research, education or partnership working.

Further details on the judging process and criteria can be found online at www.innocentive.com/ar/challenge/9933399. Entries close on August 26^th at 11:59pm (GMT). Winners will be announced in November 2013.

Notes to Editors:

Nominations must:

1) Be from a country classified as ‘low’, ‘lower-middle’, or ‘upper-middle’ income by the World Bank(http://data.worldbank.org/country), and not be from the European Union (http://europa.eu/about-eu/countries/index_en.htm). Countries classified as ‘high income’ by the World Bank or that are in the European Union are not eligible

2) Come from an organisation based in an eligible country, with an innovation used for the benefit of the people in an eligible country

GSK & Save the Children Healthcare Innovation Award – External Judging Panel Members

(In alphabetical order)

Dr Abbas Bhuiyan

Interim Executive Director of the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, an international health research institution based in Dhaka, Bangladesh. 

Joe Cerrell

Director of the Gates Foundation Europe Office and currently serving as a board member for a number of organisations including the ONE Campaign, UNITAID and the Clinton Global Initiative.

Lord Nigel Crisp

Independent member of the House of Lords, working mainly on international development and global health. Lord Crisp was Chief Executive of the NHS 2000 – 2006 and is Permanent Secretary of the UK Department of Health.

Professor Joy Lawn

Professor of Maternal, Reproductive and Child Health and Director of the MARCH Centre at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine

Professor Alejandro Madrigal

Originally from Mexico, Professor Madrigal is Scientific Director of Anthony Nolan and President of the European Group for Blood and Marrow Transplantation (EBMT)

Professor Oyewale Tomori

Professor of Virology and President of the Nigerian Academy of Science, Professor Tomori is a Fellow of the Royal College of Pathologists of the United Kingdom and virology advisor to numerous World Health Organisation committees.

GlaxoSmithKline – one of the world’s leading research-based pharmaceutical and healthcare companies – is committed to improving the quality of human life by enabling people to do more, feel better and live longer.  For further information please visit www.gsk.com

Save the Children - Save the Children works in more than 120 countries and helps to save children's lives, fight for their rights and help them fulfil their potential. For more information visit: www.savethechildren.org.uk