Communication/Media Platform

David Hammel of Balcony Labs Inc. in the U.S. together with their partner Direct-Relief will develop a communication tool that combines smartphone messaging with geographical information systems to enable health campaign managers to communicate directly with health workers and civilians in a specific region of interest to improve the impact of their campaigns. The tool enables managers to send messages such as alerts, instructions, or surveys, directly to target areas, as well as collect geo-specific information in real-time for updating campaign designs and evaluating outcome.

Use human centered design to develop and test a comic series to engage and educate adolescent boys and girls in rural and urban areas about puberty and gender equality, with a focus on menstrual health management (MHM). Produce the first batch of books. Test demand and willingness to pay of NGO/ CSO/ school channel and private sector channel. Evaluate health and gender equality outcomes of the tool o Create and support a community of adolescent boys and girls, online and offline.

Anthony Kolozetti of My School ROCKS in Canada will develop an educational music application for schools that combines collaborative technology with the universal medium of music to help young people succeed academically and acquire 21st century skills such as mindfulness, stress management, resilience and empathy. Growing numbers of students are suffering from unhappiness at school, experiencing daily anxiety and stress.

Anna Casalme of Novelly in the U.S. will develop a mobile phone application that combines young adult fiction about social issues with learning tasks and international discussion forums to encourage young people to become global citizens and spark their interest in issues such as gender equality and health. Building on their existing program, they will design and develop the application with specific features, add one novel, and pilot test it, before refining the design and opening it to the public.

Evidence on infant physical care, stimulation and maternal mental health is irrefutable for optimal infant development and wellbeing. However an integrated, standardized and evidence-based package addressing these elements is lacking. World Vision trains Community Health Workers to deliver Timed and Targeted Counselling (ttC) for pregnant women; a home-visitor model providing timely messages about physical health care of mother and child.

CASITA is an evidence-based, culturally-specific, early intervention delivered by community health workers (CHWs) in Lima, Peru. With support from Grand Challenges Canada (GCC), the CASITA intervention pilot successfully demonstrated that this low-cost, community-based strategy improves neurodevelopment among children ages 6-24 months.

Youth in Uganda face many Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH) risks such as unmet need for contraception, which leads to unplanned pregnancies that result in unsafe abortions and sexually transmitted infections. However, awareness and uptake of SRH services among the youth remains sub-optimal. Challenges to the provision of SRH services include lack of privacy and confidentiality, financial barriers, and knowledge gaps. Innovative solutions are critical to addressing these challenges.

This project targets children in low-income population living in slums, deprived environment and stressful environment and exposed to a number of risk factors. Exposure to various risk factors create an unfavorable context for the development and mental health of children and their mothers. The proof of concept project tests a novel, intensive home visitation program by community health functionary for the pregnant women, infants and children under-two years living in poor urban areas.

In Indonesia, where 10% of pregnancies occur in women age 15-24 (BPS, 2015), sex-ed is not taught as one subject, only parts are addressed in science and religion classes Moreover, parents also lack the skills and confidence to provide sex-ed to their children. Early childhood exposure to sexuality education contributes to a lower rate of teen pregnancies, improved HIV/AIDS knowledge and helps address other problems.

Eighteen million women and men living with HIV want to have a child. Condomless sex between HIV-serodifferent (one HIV-positive, one HIV-negative) couples who want children contributes to 1.5 million HIV infections and 150,000 perinatal transmissions annually. Safer conception interventions promoting antiretroviral (ARV)-mediated viral suppression, pre-exposure prophylaxis, and/or condomless sex timed to peak fertility can eliminate HIV transmission, keeping sexual partners and babies HIV-free.