Product/Service Development

North Star Alliance East Africa (“North Star”) is a not-for-profit organization, whose mission is to provide essential health services for marginalized (and often criminalized), at-risk, underserved populations along busy transport corridors in sub-Saharan Africa. The innovation is a sex-worker led Crisis Response Teams (CRTs) to combat sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) against sex workers, whose vulnerability has been magnified by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Parisodhana has developed a unique face mask to meet the needs for PPE by the general public. The SHG-95 face masks are produced using locally sourced cotton and filtration media. The masks are meant for use by the general public to control community spread of COVID-19 and provide individual protection comparable to an N95 respirator.

Preeclampsia/eclampsia (PE/E) occurs in 10% of pregnancies in Africa and accounts for at least 16% of maternal deaths in low resource countries (ref: WHO). Significant proteinuria can now be treated immediately, thus lowering the risk of admitting a patient with non-significant proteinuria into hospital/clinic with all of its associated costs.

MAM@Scale brings rectal artesunate (RAS) to remote regions in Zambia, providing children under-six with immediate pre-referral intervention for severe malaria at the community level.

Post-partum hemorrhage (PPH) is the leading cause of maternal mortality worldwide. Products that address PPH are urgently needed in LMICs, however, developing a sustainable business plan around a low margin and low volume product is challenging. With this award, CMHI will validate a viable business plan for critical PPH commodities in Kenya. The Every Second Matters for Mothers and Babies - Uterine Balloon Tamponade™ (ESM-UBT) is an ultra-low cost (FDA approved) UBT package, designed to arrest uncontrolled PPH after conventional methods fail.

HappyTap is a product-driven behavior change innovation aimed at eliminating the transmission of bacteria borne illnesses in children under 5. It is the only commercial indoor and outdoor portable sink for children specifically designed for low resource settings lacking adequate infrastructure for a fixed sink or handwashing station. Employing principles of human centered design, HappyTap is both functional and aesthetically appealing. It is composed of a refillable 15 liter water storage tank1, slow-flow tap and soap storage area with brightly colored and engaging images.

Group interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT-G) is a proven, simple and cost-efficient community-based model to treat depression. IPT-G focuses on the interpersonal relationships of depressed group members. StrongMinds Uganda has successfully adapted its IPT-G therapeutic model to treat depression and improve the wellbeing of adolescents aged 12-19. In addition to group talk therapy, the organization delivers psychoeducation to young people, their families and teachers in an effort to break down stigma and address destructive gender norms.

Clean Team Ghana Ltd (CTG) is a Kumasi based social enterprise, providing Container Based Sanitation (CBS) services in Kumasi. CTG provides a quality plastic toilet to the customer; who pays a small weekly fee for a “swap and go” service. CTG waste collectors collect the waste weekly, by sealing the used cartridge and replacing it with a fresh one. The waste is then transported to KMA’s sewage works, where it is safely disposed.

Our innovation combines technology and service delivery through a social enterprise model to increase access to oxygen in low-resource settings. The FREO2 Oxygen System provides inexpensive, reliable oxygen to pediatric wards for the treatment of hypoxemia. The innovation currently serves the pediatric ward at Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital, Uganda, and we seek to expand access to oxygen to 20 neighboring health facilities.

The Drop-TB program aims to expand the reach of TB testing in pregnancy by creating a system where DBS samples are collected from women at their local healthcare clinics instead of at national-level TB diagnostic centers where visits can require substantial travel and cost. A DBS is collected from a pregnant woman with suspected TB using a finger prick blood sample4 (cover photo) and transported to a central TB testing facility and analyzed by real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR)5.