Product/Service Development

The M-Mama program in the Lake Zone of Tanzania saves lives of pregnant women, as well as their newborns, by reducing delays in reaching and receiving care during an emergency. At its core, M-Mama is a technology-driven emergency transport and referral system. The 24/7 dispatch centers at health facilities provide remote triaging, and arrange transportation for patients to health facility via a community driver with a 4-wheel vehicle or ambulance.

We have developed technology that adds bioavailable iron to tea. We have shown the process to be effective in-vitro, and in-vivo. We will test the positive health effect of iron fortified tea in Tanzania in cooperation with Haydom Hospital and in India the St. John’s Research Institute. We will complete adjustments to the color and taste of fortified tea, and initiate the scale-up in cooperation with tea formulators and manufacturers in India and Canada.

The primary purpose of the innovation is to build social and healthcare capacities for improving reproductive health outcomes for young women in two states. Using a youth-focused communication strategy, designed and implemented by young women from the community, the innovation will build upon IDF’s efforts in the public health system of two states to increase availability of SRH services, including abortion and contraception.

Respiratory distress syndrome (hyaline membrane disease or RDS) is the leading cause of premature infant mortality. It is a breathing disorder of premature newborns in which the air sacs (alveoli) in the baby’s lungs do not remain open. The disease occurs in infants born under 37 weeks, and 15M premature babies are born each year with 8% expected to develop RDS. Babies with RDS have a nearly 100% mortality rate if left untreated. Effective respiratory support can improve a neonate's survival rate by 70%. In well-equipped hospitals, infants receive adequate respiratory support.

To make the greatest impact for sexual violence survivors, societies must remove barriers to justice. Physicians for Human Rights will use its innovations in multisectoral training, standardized forensic medical documentation, and institutional capacity development to bring to scale best practices for confronting conflict-related sexual violence in Kenya and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

JOELEX makes water and sanitation accessible, affordable for the urban poor in Kampala, Uganda, by building, operating public water, toilets, showers, within slums, then collect the human waste and convert it into organic fertilizer. JOELEX has been operating over the last 20 months, have served at least 40,000 girls, women, children &youth with water, sanitation &showering services, successfully implemented its pay per user model on its facilities and done a pilot on the viability of converting the human waste into other products such as organic fertilizer.

Neopenda is innovating needs-based medical technologies for emerging markets. The first product, neoGuard, is a 4-in-1 wearable neonatal vital signs monitor designed for resource-constrained health facilities. The affordable system enables more responsive and appropriate care for critically ill newborns, and ultimately helps reduce preventable newborn mortality. Initially launching in Uganda, Neopenda is looking to scale in other geographies where advancing newborn health is needed. They plan to evaluate the product and business feasibility in Kenya, Ghana, and Tanzania.

Early detection and treatment of asymptomatic urinary tract infection (UTI), a major risk factor for pre-eclampsia and gestational diabetes, that are leading causes of maternal mortality, remains a gap in informal settlements and rural areas where maternal mortality is elevated. Our technology-enabled rapid-diagnostic outpatient facilities, called Hubs, enhance early detection UTI in 3 rural communities and one informal settlement in Kenya. The hubs currently serve the elderly with non-communicable disease and 15 target common outpatient conditions and need more volume to breakeven.

Sankoya Technologies is launching the next-generation toilet to reverse the devastating impact of poor sanitation where 4.5B people use inadequate facilities causing environmental runoff and transmission of disease. Our off-the-grid sanitation appliance, a “micro-waste treatment system”, destroys pathogens at source at source within 24 hours, thus negating the need for either connected sewers or downstream services, and completely avoids the consequences of inadequate fecal sludge management.