Product/Service Development

Pad Heaven Initiative manufactures sanitary pads using banana and bamboo fibres.We aim to provide affordable sanitary pads, while reducing girl's absenteeism from school during their periods. Their technology converts the plant pulps to make pads that are hygienic, affordable and 95% bio-degradable.Statistics show that over 2.5 million schoolgirls coming from poor backgrounds cannot afford to buy commercial sanitary pads. This can be attributed to the high unemployment rate in Kenya, which currently stands at 40% with about 45.9% of the population living below the poverty line.

Miracradle is neonatal bed that relies on phase change materials to help lower and regulate the body temperature of neonates suffering from birth asphyxia, a leading cause of neonatal mortality and brain damage in Kenya. This treatment method has been shown to be effective and more economical than any of its competitors. Miracradle's phase change technology has the added advantages of only requiring minimal supervision and minimal electrical access needed for its use.

Women suffering from mental health disorders are at higher risk of pregnancy-related illness and death, including postpartum suicide. Further, their children suffer from low birth weight, under-nutrition due to early cessation of breastfeeding, and increased rates of diarrheal diseases and neonatal mortality. This is especially true in rural India, where estimates show a higher burden of perinatal mental illness than in other contexts, and where structural violence related to fetal sex-preference is linked to poor health outcomes and impaired economic development.

All mothers want healthy babies, even in Burkina Faso, one of the world’s poorest countries. Despite free prenatal care, access remains an issue for rural women, as this often means walking for an entire day through harsh conditions. As a consequence, nearly 70% receive only 1 of the 4 recommended visits, putting themselves and their babies at risk. What if we could give them convenient access to a nurse without the need for travel? Currently community health workers (CHWs), who are used to bridge the existing service, often work in isolation and without ready access to nurses’ expertise.

Public toilets are vital to the design of sustainable, inclusive cities. Without proper regulation, and management incentives public toilets suffer from inadequate maintenance and unhygienic conditions. Women and children are disproportionately affected by a lack of access to sanitary toilets, and are most likely to "hold on", resulting in urine and pathogen retention, bladder distension, and continence problems. They are also disproportionately affected by the negative nutritional consequences of Nepal’s toilet sanitation crisis.

The mid-western region of Uganda, specifically the districts of Kibale and Hoima that are targeted for this grant have the poorest Reproductive Maternal Newborn and Child Health (RMNCH) indicators in the country with unmet need for Family Planning (FP) 52%, skilled birth attendance 56%, Post Natal Care (PNC) for mothers and newborn within two days of delivery 29% and 9% respectively and 4th Antenatal Care (ANC4) attendance 32.4%. In 2009, Malaria Consortium with funding from Canadian CIDA introduced integrated community case management (iCCM) in all districts in the region.

Early Child Development (ECD) activities [1-5] and conditional cash transfer [6] improve children’s abilities. However, though unconditional cash transfer (UCT) improves child health[7] and nutrition[8], little is known about the effect of UCT along with health and ECD programs on children’s cognition and behavior. Ministry of Women & Children Affair (MoWCA), the Government of Bangladesh (GoB) is conducting a UCT program for poor rural pregnant women with health education covering a 2-years period.