SEATTLE, WASH. – Innovations that demonstrated the most promising solutions to address the causes of maternal and newborn deaths in hard-to-reach, low-resource settings were nominated tonight for award at the Saving Lives at Birth DevelopmentXChange at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.  The nominees will now enter into final negotiations before awards can be issued.

The Saving Lives at Birth: A Grand Challenge for Development partnership issued a call to the global community in February 2012 for innovations across three domains – science and technology, service delivery, and ways to stimulate demand for healthcare services at the time of birth. The call elicited more than 500 submissions from almost 60 countries.

This week, the 65 finalists travelled to Seattle, WA to compete in the final stage of competition, publically displaying their ideas in an open market place, and building a community of innovators dedicated to ensuring every mother and child has a healthy pregnancy, safe delivery, and strong start on life.

Melinda Gates, co-founder of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, joined the Saving Lives at Birth partners—U.S. Agency on International Development (USAID), the Government of Norway, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Grand Challenges Canada, and DFID—in congratulating the award nominees. 

This is the second call for innovative ideas under the Saving Lives at Birth campaign. The first call in 2011 resulted in the selection of the 24 most promising solutions for award.

A list of award nominees is available upon request.  To learn more about the nominated innovations, visit www.savinglivesatbirth.net.

Press contacts:

USAID Press Office: USAIDPressOfficers@usaid.gov
Government of Norway: Lars Grønseth: lagr@norad.no
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation: media@gatesfoundation.org
Grand Challenges Canada: Lyn Whitham: lyn.whitham@grandchallenges.ca
DFID: Rob Kelly: R-Kelly@dfid.gov.uk