05Nov 2024 by Melissa Slogan

Welcome to the final installment of the Innovations in Healthcare Global Health Innovation Grantees blog series.

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 in the ecosystem, hosting GHIG-specific workshops and peer convenings at the Annual Forum, and conducting regular program monitoring to provide portfolio and individual results to the Pfizer Foundation.

Now in its eighth year (GHIG8), 20 new recipients of the one-year grant program have each received $100,000 USD 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, with immunization programs as a priority, in sixteen countries.

Introducing Five of the Twenty 2024-2025 Grantees

reach52

reach52 is a health innovator with the mission to redesign healthcare to reach 52% of the world without access to essential healthcare products and services. Powered by an award-winning tech platform, reach52 partners with and trains the local health workforce, alongside businesses, governments and social organizations to deliver targeted and data-driven health interventions in underserved communities across low-and-middle income countries, creating access for all.

Via GHIG8, reach52 will leverage its platform and technology to broadly address vaccine-preventable diseases for rural communities in Indonesia. Specific targets include:

Training and digitizing 250 community health workers;
Reaching 30,000 residents through door-to-door and group community health worker-led engagements; and,
Reaching 100,000 residents with both digital and physical inputs.

Technical Advice Connect LTD/GTE (TAConnect)

Caption: A healthcare worker records vaccination data for a child immunized against the rotavirus during an outreach session in the Tudun Murtala community, Nasarawa Local Government Area, Kano State, Nigeria. Photo credit: TAConnect.

Technical Advice Connect LTD/GTE (TAConnect) is an indigenous non-profit organization established to deliver tailored and cohesive technical assistance to national and sub-national governments to strengthen resilient health systems and enhance service delivery leading to improved health outcomes.

Their goals for GHIG8 include:

Strengthening primary healthcare systems and community systems to improve uptake of immunization services;
Co-creating gender integration interventions which address gender barriers to vaccine uptake at the family, household, community, and health facility levels, leveraging social and behavior change communication (SBCC) strategies to foster positive attitudes, knowledge, and behaviors toward vaccination; and,
Leveraging existing TAConnect’s investments and other programs in the state to deepen synergy and create demand for immunization services.

The AIDS Support Organisation (TASO)

Embarking on a mission to address the multifaceted needs of individuals and communities affected by HIV/AIDS, the AIDS Support Organisation (TASO) offers a comprehensive array of services. These services are meticulously crafted to provide holistic support, ensuring the well-being and empowerment of those they serve.

Through GHIG8, TASO will:

Scale up the Uganda National Triple Elimination Initiative for HIV, chronic hepatitis B infection, and syphilis in the Acholi and Teso regions of Uganda by using a health systems and community engagement approach;
Support implementation of the Triple Elimination Plan; and,
Collaborate with stakeholders to enhance quality of triple elimination services at two regional referral hospitals and 16 lower-level public health facilities.

Unjani Clinics NPC

Caption: Sister Pat and child. Photo credit: Unjani Clinic.

Unjani Clinic is an Enterprise Development Initiative aimed at:

Empowering Black Women Professional Nurses;
Creating Permanent Jobs; and
Perfecting a Sustainable Clinic Model for providing primary healthcare.

Via GHIG8, Unjani Clinic will help strengthen South Africa’s primary healthcare systems through education, screening, prevention, diagnosis, and/or treatment of infectious diseases. Specific objectives include:

Employing and equipping a minimum of 10 Health Promotion Officers (CHW’s) to provide screening and education to under-served communities; and,
Implementing ultraviolet air purifiers in 25 Unjani clinics to improve infection control.

The intervention aims to continue improving the environments in which patients receive care and treatment in the Unjani Clinic Network, while also equipping communities with education, screening, and linkage to care.

VillageReach

VillageReach delivers transformative solutions to reach everyone by strengthening primary healthcare systems to make them responsive, adaptive, available and accessible to underreached populations.

Through GHIG8, VillageReach aims to strengthen the delivery and reach of HPV vaccines to girls aged 9 – 14 years in the Mangochi district in Malawi. The project will use a human-centered design approach to identify barriers and co-develop solutions with key stakeholders in the targeted communities. Specific objectives include:

Improving awareness of and demand for HPV vaccines in four health facility catchment areas in Mangochi;
Improving the capacity of the four targeted health facilities to deliver the HPV vaccine; and,
Documenting and sharing lessons learned in HPV vaccine demand creation and targeted outreach.

As a proud partner of the GHIG program, Innovations in Healthcare looks forward to improving access to and uptake of vaccines. Throughout the program, GHIG8 grantees will demonstrate real impact on pathways for vaccine access.

This blog is the final installment in a four-part series highlighting the GHIG8 grantees. Access the first, second, and third blogs. The full list of GHIG8 grantees include: