Innovations in Healthcare has been working with the Pfizer Foundation’s1 Global Health Innovation Grants (GHIG) program over the past year to support social innovation in healthcare delivery and technology for underserved patients worldwide. Through a competitive, targeted process, the Pfizer Foundation awarded one-year grants of $100,000 to 15 global health innovators ($1.5 million total) for projects launching in 2016, and plans to fund a similar number of innovators for projects in 2017. Thirteen of the 15 grantees in the pilot cohort are in the Innovations in Healthcare network.*
The Pfizer Foundation seeks to improve health care delivery and access for underserved populations globally. GHIG grants were awarded based on whether the project submission was in line with the Foundation’s charitable purpose to improve health services and access for underserved populations in low-to-middle income countries. The Pfizer Foundation has strategically focused its impact portfolio on three main areas: primary healthcare, women and children’s health, and healthcare technologies for low resource settings. The Foundation’s global health strategy is to catalyze innovation and entrepreneurship at the country and community level to address complex health issues and reduce health care barriers for populations that are difficult to reach. The inaugural GHIG cohort includes the following grantees:
Women and Children’s Health: 2020 MicroClinic, ayzh, Jacaranda Health, World Health Partners
Primary Healthcare Delivery: Afya Research Africa, Clínicas del Azúcar, LifeNet International, North Star Alliance, One Family Health, Penda Health, Sevamob
Healthcare Technologies for Low Resource Settings: Last Mile Health, Operation ASHA, salaUno, Swasth
Operating countries include: India, Mexico, Kenya, Uganda, South Africa, Mozambique, Liberia and Rwanda.
As a condition of these grants, the Pfizer Foundation requires grantees to monitor and evaluate their projects. Innovations in Healthcare is serving as an advisor on the evaluation process by working with the grantees to monitor progress and assess performance relative to project targets. We are providing guidance to individual grantees and also identifying learnings from across the entire cohort of grantees to help inform the Pfizer Foundation’s overall investment strategy. We are interested to learn how grant-making programs like GHIG can more effectively advance innovative health models in low- and middle-income countries across all stakeholders.
We are grateful to the Pfizer Foundation for the chance to partner on this exciting project!
To learn more about the Pfizer Foundation’s grants and investments program visit: http://www.pfizer.com/responsibility/global-health-grants-investments
Please e-mail Erin Escobar at erin.escobar@duke.edu with any questions.
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* The following GHIG grantees are part of the Innovations in Healthcare network:
Afya Research Africa, ayzh, Clínicas del Azúcar, Jacaranda Health, LifeNet International, North Star Alliance, One Family Health, Operation ASHA, Penda Health, salaUno, Sevamob, Swasth, and World Health Partners
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1 The Pfizer Foundation is a charitable organization established by Pfizer Inc. It is a separate legal entity from Pfizer Inc. with distinct legal restrictions.