History of the Global Health Innovation Grants Program
Since 2016, The Pfizer Foundation’s Global Health Innovation Grants (GHIG) program has supported community-based initiatives that aim to improve quality of care and strengthen health systems in lower income countries.
Innovations in Healthcare supports GHIG grantees by facilitating connections, hosting program-specific workshops and peer convenings at the Annual Forum while also conducting regular program monitoring to provide portfolio and individual results to the Pfizer Foundation.
Now in its eighth year (GHIG8), 20 new recipients have each received a USD $100,000 one-year grant to drive innovative solutions that help address vaccine-preventable illness in their communities.
GHIG8 geographic scope. This year’s grantees address a range of infectious diseases in sixteen countries, with immunizations programs as a priority.
Introducing Five of the Twenty 2024-2025 Grantees
Africa Humanitarian Action (AHA)
Photo caption: During a household visit, A VillageHealth Team member performing a nutrition assessment for a lactating mother using a mid-upper arm circumference tape. Assessments are usually completed for up to two years with app-based patient reminders. Photo credit: Africa Humanitarian Action.
AHA is a pan-African international organization that provides humanitarian relief and recovery. Founded in 1994, AHA has supported over 18 million people in 20 African countries to regain their health, dignity, and wellbeing.
Through the GHIG8 program, AHA will strengthen the community-based delivery of care for infectious diseases among urban refugees in Kampala. They intend to accomplish this by:
- Training and empowering village health team members;
- Developing a supplies delivery system; and,
- Establishing refugee desks in hospitals.
Afya Research Africa
Photo caption: Baby getting vaccine at Aram Ubuntu-Afya Medical Centre. Photo credit: Elizabeth Ombech, Afya Research Africa.
Afya Research Africa (ARA) is a Kenyan organization with a track record of working in three complementary areas of healthcare: providing care, health technology, and research. They empower communities to be actively involved in the health system, give healthcare providers the tools they need to succeed, and study their work to improve clinical services and public health interventions. ARA believes in sustainable evidence-based health systems that harness the strengths of communities and use locally appropriate health technologies to support the provision of care.
Via GHIG8, ARA will utilize their Ubuntu-Afya kiosks, a network of rural healthcare centers designed to bring essential healthcare services closer to Kenyan communities. The Ubuntu-Afya Kiosks will be used to increase access to vaccines and prophylactic antimicrobials by underserved, rural populations.
Care 2 Communities (C2C)
Photo caption: Resident Doctor at the C2C Bas-Limbe clinic consulting with a newborn. Photo credit: Simplex Services Haiti, via C2C.
C2C operates a public-private partnership with Haiti’s Ministry of Health to transform underperforming public sector clinics into financially sustainable community healthcare hubs for economically disadvantaged individuals and families.
Through the GHIG8 program, C2C will strengthen community-based care systems in Haiti by:
- Enhancing access to high-quality primary care for families in northern Haiti;
- Improving the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of infectious diseases, including acute respiratory infections, impetigo, scabies, and tonsillitis; and,
- Supporting a sustainable and accessible approach to vaccine regimens for vaccine-preventable diseases.
Community Health and Information Network (CHAIN)
Photo caption: Training community health Workers and local leaders on malaria prevention and treatment in children under 5 years in Uganda. Photo credit: Community Health and Information Network (CHAIN).
CHAIN empowers and provides prevention and support services to vulnerable communities affected by HIV and AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, and non-communicable diseases to make informed decisions on their health, social, and economic circumstances.
CHAIN will use their GHIG8 grant to strengthen the capacity of community-based and primary health care systems focused on malaria prevention, diagnosis, and management. Specific objectives include:
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Raising awareness and knowledge in malaria prevention and care-seeking practices;
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Increasing community health workers’ capacity to diagnose, treat, refer, and follow and document care; and,
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Improving provider capacity to administer and track malaria vaccination.
Equitable Health Access Initiative (EHAI)
Photo caption: EHAI team conducting data validation during a Supportive Supervisory Visit to Ifetedo PHC in Ife South LGA, Osun State on the GHIG7 project. Photo credit: Equitable Health Access Initiative.
EHAI is a tech-driven indigenous non-governmental organization providing cutting edge solutions to critical health and social issues in Nigeria.
Their GHIG8 goal is to significantly reduce the number of under-immunized and zero-dose children through digitized immunization registration and tracking; awareness, and education at 12 selected primary health centers in Kwara State, Nigeria. They intend to accomplish the following objectives:
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Digitize the Immunization Register and tracking system;
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Build the capacity of 60 healthcare workers for optimized immunization coverage and tracking;
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Engage and train 24 community volunteers to actively track unimmunized newborns children who missed a routine vaccination schedule, thus at greater risk of acquiring vaccine-preventable diseases;
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Ensure 95% of newborns of all pregnant women registered for AnteNatal care receive their first immunization schedule; and,
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Increase routine vaccine awareness and education at the community level through m-health.
As a proud partner of the GHIG program, Innovations in Healthcare looks forward to improving access to and uptake of vaccines. Through the program, GHIG8 grantees will demonstrate real impact on pathways for vaccine access.
This blog is the first in a four-part series highlighting the GHIG8 grantees. The full list of GHIG8 grantees include: