Maternal, Newborn, and Adolescent Health

Ricardo Valladares of Siolta Therapeutics in the U.S. will develop a low-cost method to manufacture large quantities of mixed populations of bacteria for use as biotherapeutics to restore a healthy population of gut microbes in infants. A diverse population of bacteria in the infant gut is essential for health, but malnourishment and antibiotics can destroy microbial diversity and cause metabolic and immune problems. Gut health may be restored by treatment with a consortium of bacterial strains.

Muhammad Imran Nisar, Furqan Kabir, Fyezah Jehan, and Syed Asad Ali of Aga Khan University in Pakistan will employ a metagenomic sequencing approach to better identify bacterial and viral infections, including those caused by novel pathogens, in newborns and infants in Pakistan. Pakistan has the highest neonatal mortality rate in the world. Almost one third of neonatal deaths are thought to be caused by an infectious disease, but accurate diagnosis is challenging in low-resource settings.

Shabir Madhi, Vicky Lynne Baillie, and Courtney Paige Olwagen of Wits Health Consortium (Pty) Limited in South Africa will use next generation sequencing to identify pathogenic causes of neonatal deaths and stillbirths to help develop new treatments such as vaccines and better prevent disease spread. There are around 2.5 million neonatal deaths annually, and an estimated 2.6 million stillbirths, the vast majority of which occur in low- to middle-income countries.

Thushan de Silva, Abdul Karim Sesay, Helen Brotherton, and Beate Kampmann of the Medical Research Council in the United Kingdom will locally implement equipment and methods for next generation sequencing of a range of clinical sample types to detect infectious pathogens in hospitalized neonates in low-resource settings. Almost three million children under five years old die each year in sub-Saharan Africa, which is the highest rate globally. A substantial proportion is likely to be caused by pathogenic infections, including multi-drug resistant organisms.

Alain Labrique of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in the U.S. and Meghan Azad of the University of Manitoba in Canada will study the impact of prelacteals - fluids or solids given before breastfeeding is established - on the populations of bacteria in the newborn gut (the microbiome), and how it may affect development. Immediate and exclusive breastfeeding helps maintain healthy growth in infants and protects them against infections, which are also influenced by their gut microbiome.

Pia Wintermark of McGill University in Canada and Cally Tann of the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine in the United Kingdom will establish a pilot cohort in Uganda of term newborns who suffered from asphyxia at birth, which means that their brain and other organs did not receive enough blood or oxygen, and conduct a clinical test of a novel neurorestorative agent (i.e., to repair brain injuries) to see if it can improve early brain development in this setting.

Sara-Christine Dallain of iACT in the U.S. will train refugee men and women to become skilled and empowered teachers who deliver early childhood care and education to support the social-emotional, cognitive, and physical development of children in refugee camps. Over 11 million children have been forced to flee their homes, challenging their ability to reach their full potential. Many lack the tools needed to adapt to the uncertainty of their present and future. Their program, Little Ripples, is a refugee-led, culturally-inspired, and cost-effective early childhood education program.

Hewa Tele ("Abundant Air" in Swahili) is a social enterprise focused on saving lives through the creation of effective oxygen systems supported by affordable quality medical oxygen to health facilities in Kenya. TTS funding of $1M from GCC will support the set-up of two new facilities and three depots to enhance distribution in these two and surrounding counties. The funding required for the set-up and launch of one plant has the ability to serve 5M people.

Aakar is a Mumbai-based social enterprise that provides access to affordable, 100% biodegradable sanitary pads and menstrual health education to low income women and girls in rural India.

We address the health challenge of provision of orthotic care to children under 5 years of age, who suffer from skeletal deformities. We aim to remedy the congenital condition of clubfoot and postnatal early-onset scoliosis, through the use of orthotic devices fabricated by 3D printing. If left untreated in young children, such skeletal deformities can grow to become a major handicap, preventing persons from full participation in society due to lack of employment, and due to the stigma of deformity.