In study, children with a particular genetic variation were 4 times more likely to develop strong attachment to mother after intervention

A child’s genetic make-up can play a large, hidden role in the success of efforts to maximize his or her development, South African research suggests.

The study, published February 28 in PLoS Medicine and supported by the Government of Canada through Grand Challenges Canada’s Saving Brains program, sheds new light on why some children benefit more than others from interventions and raises complex questions about psychosocial intervention programs in future.

In a study led by Professor Mark Tomlinson of Stellenbosch University, the study followed-up an intervention implemented between 1999 and 2003, in which expectant mothers underwent mentoring to improve attachment with their children — attachment being a measure of a child’s psychological security, and predictive of future wellbeing. In the original study, a control group of roughly equal size was composed of expectant mothers who did not receive mentoring.

The original study concluded that the intervention had a small-to-moderate effect on mother-child attachment, evaluated once the children reached 18 months of age.

The follow-up study, conducted thirteen years after the intervention, re-examined the original attachment results and revealed something surprising: the intervention had in fact worked well for toddlers who had a particular genetic characteristic.

Conducted in collaboration with colleagues from the University of Reading, University College London, and Western University, the study re-enrolled and conducted genetic tests on 279 of the original 449 children.

220 children had both genetic and attachment data, enabling the investigators to test whether the original attachment outcomes were influenced by their genes.

The researchers factored in whether the child had the short or long form of gene SLC6A4 — the serotonin transporter gene, which is involved in nerve signalling, and which other studies have linked to anxiety, depression and other conditions. Serotonin is popularly thought to contribute to feelings of well-being and happiness.

The attachment of children with the short form of the gene, and whose pregnant mothers were mentored, were almost four times more likely to be securely attached to their mothers at 18 months old (84 percent were secure) than children carrying the short form whose mothers did not receive mentoring (58 percent were secure).

Meanwhile, children with the long gene were apparently unaffected by their mother’s training or lack thereof: in both cases, the rate of secure attachment was almost identical (70 and 71 percent).

Subject to further validation, says Professor Tomlinson, the insight has “important implications for scientists designing and evaluating interventions to benefit as many people as possible in South Africa and worldwide.”

“Without taking genetics into account, it is possible that other studies have under-estimated the impact of their interventions, as we originally did.”

Says lead author Dr. Barak Morgan of the University of Cape Town: “The immediate significance of this research is the revelation that in principle, and probably in many cases in practice too, the effectiveness of interventions has been mis-measured — under-estimated for genetically susceptible individuals and over-estimated for those who are genetically less susceptible. But even more worrying is the implication that the negative consequences of not receiving an intervention also differ by genotype.”

“This is an enormously important insight because, in this case, the subgroup with the short form of the SLC6A4 gene is also the one with the most to lose if not helped.”

“Individuals with the long form of the gene, on the other hand, appear less sensitive and derived little benefit from the same intervention, and little detriment from not getting it.”

Adds Professor Tomlinson: “In the original study, we did not see such a big impact from this intervention because only those with the short gene improved, and this improvement was ‘diluted’ by the large number of children with the long gene who did not improve.”

The researchers caution that, among other limitations, this study involved a relatively small sample and only measured one gene and one outcome (attachment).

Dr. Morgan stressed: “We are certainly not saying that only some people should receive the intervention — those who are ‘susceptible’ to improving from it. There is little scientific justification for this. For example, many children with the non-susceptible long genotype of the SLC6A4 gene may carry the susceptible form of another gene which renders them much more likely to benefit from the same intervention but for a different but equally important outcome.

“Going forward, the implications are therefore two-fold. Firstly, measuring genetic differences allows for proper assessment of the effectiveness or lack of effectiveness of an intervention for a particular outcome in different individuals. Secondly, this information can then be used to find out how to intervene effectively for all — to guide what might be done to improve outcomes for a non-responsive gene-intervention interaction while continuing to optimise outcomes for the responsive one.”

Says Dr. Karlee Silver, Vice President Programs of Grand Challenges Canada: “This work is fundamentally about better understanding the impact of interventions which is an important step forward to creating a world where every child can survive and thrive.”

Says Dr. Peter A. Singer, Chief Executive Officer of Grand Challenges Canada: “This is a startling finding that changes the way I think about child development. Why is it important? Because child development is the ladder of social mobility used to climb out of the hole of inequity by millions of children around the world.”

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For more information, visit grandchallenges.ca and look for us on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn.

About Grand Challenges Canada

Grand Challenges Canada is dedicated to supporting Bold Ideas with Big Impact® in global health. We are funded by the Government of Canada and we support innovators in low- and middle-income countries and Canada. The bold ideas we support integrate science and technology, social and business innovation – we call this Integrated Innovation®. Grand Challenges Canada focuses on innovator-defined challenges through its Stars in Global Health program and on targeted challenges in its Saving Lives at Birth, Saving Brains and Global Mental Health programs. Grand Challenges Canada works closely with Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC), the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and Global Affairs Canada to catalyze scale, sustainability and impact. We have a determined focus on results, and on saving and improving lives. http://www.grandchallenges.ca

About Saving Brains

Saving Brains is a partnership of Grand Challenges Canada, Aga Khan Foundation Canada, the Bernard van Leer Foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, The ELMA Foundation, Grand Challenges Ethiopia, the Maria Cecilia Souto Vidigal Foundation, the Palix Foundation, UBS Optimus Foundation and World Vision Canada. It seeks and supports bold ideas for products, services and implementation models that protect and nurture early brain development relevant to poor, marginalized populations in low- or middle-income countries.http://www.savingbrainsinnovation.net

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Example coverage:

The Times, South Africa
SA study sheds new light on how babies respond to developmental interventions, (click here)

Africa Science News, Kenya
To maximize a child’s development, genetics provide important insight, study shows, (click here)

Independent Online, South Africa
The long and short of child genetics revealed, (click here)

Herald Live, South Africa
SA study sheds new light on how babies respond to developmental interventions, (click here)

SciDev, UK, (click here)

Agencia EFE, via El Confidencial, Spain, Genética puede explicar reacción en niños de tratamientos psicosociológicos (click here)

Coverage summary, click here

News release in full, click here

Mothers who take multi-micronutrient supplements during pregnancy can add the equivalent of up to one full year of schooling to a child’s cognitive abilities at age 9-12, says a new study published today.

	Photos for media use bit.ly/2j81cTJ Credit: SUMMIT

Says Provincial Secretary General Dr. Rosiady Sayuti: “The findings led us to create, with the Summit Institute of Development and colleagues, the inter-sectoral Golden Generation Program to enhance social interventions to foster early childhood development.”

Example coverage

Newswires

Agence France Presse, France, Researchers investigate the factors that boost kids’ brains, click here

Agencia EFE, Spain (at 25 news sites / 12 countries), via Yahoo! News, Suministro de micronutrientes a embarazadas mejora la función cerebral de los niños, click here

Press Trust of India, Happy, educated moms key to smarter kids!, click here

IndoAsian News Service, India, Want your child to be smart? Taking proper vitamin supplements during pregnancy might help, click here

Europa Press, newswire, Spain, El ambiente de crianza estimula el desarrollo del niño, click here

ANSA, newswire, Italy, Vitamine in gravidanza ‘nutrono’ l’intelligenza del bebè, click here

News sites

Today’s Parent, Canada, Prenatal vitamins will make your kid smarter, says new study, click here

The Telegraph, UK, Failing to take multivitamins during pregnancy could set child back a year in school, study suggests, click here

The Sun, UK, BABY BRAIN Mums-to-be who take 2p-a-day pregnancy vitamins ‘boost their kids’ IQ by the same as one school year’, click here

The Mirror, UK, Pregnant women can boost their child’s IQ by up to a year’s schooling by taking supplements, click here

Daily Mail, UK, Want to have smart children? Taking vitamins during pregnancy can help to boost their IQ by as much of a year of schooling, click here

Hindustan Times, India, Want kids with high IQ? Take vitamin supplements during pregnancy, click here

Science Daily, USA, Maternal micronutrients, nurturing environment boost child development, click here 

Medical Express, USA, Maternal micronutrients, nurturing environment boost child development, click here

Medical News, Australia, Maternal multi-micronutrients, nurturing environment in early life foster childhood development, click here

Nutraceuticals World, United States, Supplementation & Nurturing Environment Boost Child Development, click here

Elaph Journal, United Arab Emirates, عدم تناول الفيتامينات أثناء الحمل يؤخر الطفل في المدرسة (Not taking vitamins during pregnancy retards the child at school), click here

Albeu, Albania, Fëmijë të zgjuar? Konsumoni këto vitamina gjatë shtatzanisë! (Smart kids? Consume these vitamins during pregnancy!), click here

Republika, Indonesia, Suplemen dan Lingkungan Jadi Pendorong Perkembangan Anak (Supplements and Environment Boost Child Development), click here

Punjab Tribune, Indonesia, Proper Maternal Vitamins, Good Nurturing, May Boost Kids’ IQ, click here

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News release in full, click here

Coverage summary, click here

National Public Radio, USA, The Friendship Bench Can Help Chase The Blues Away, click here

SciDev, UK, Bench talk boosts mental health in Zimbabwe, click here; French: Des méthodes innovantes pour stimuler la santé mentale au Zimbabwe, click here

Press Trust of India, ‘Friendship Bench’ may help fight mental illness, click here

BBC World Service English to Africa, Focus on Africa, starts at the 15:30 mark, click here, 

BBC Swahili, UK, Gumzo la benchi, tiba ya magonjwa ya kiakili, click here

Newser, USA via Fox News, ‘Friendship Bench’ chats ease symptoms of depression, says study, click here

Medical Daily, USA, Are ‘Friendship Benches’ The Cure For Depression, Anxiety In Poor Countries?, click here

IndoAsian News Service, India, Community-based Therapy May Alleviate Depression, Anxiety: Study, click here

Newser, USA, 5 most incredible discoveries of the week, click here

Upworthy, USA, This country has only 10 psychiatrists. That’s where ‘professional grandmothers’ come in, click here

Agencia EFE, Spain Charlas Semanales Con Abuelas Reducen Dramaticamente Enfermedades Mentales (Weekly talks with grandmothers dramatically reduce mental illness), via Yahoo News, USA, click here

South Africa Broadcasting Corp.

Ontario Farmer, Canada helps Zimbabwe with bench strength

Forskning, Norway, Mindre depresjon med bestemor på en benk, click here

Psychology Today, USA, What if You’re Depressed or Anxious and Can’t Find Help? Friendship Benches offer a new tool in the fight against depression and anxiety, click here

FJ China (+ several other news sites), China, 这群大妈每天找人闲聊,却做着救人的大事被称为“黄金夫人, click here

Good News Network, USA, ‘Friendship Benches’ Alleviate Mental Illness Symptoms For Thousands, click here

Health Canal, USA, Friendship Bench therapy reduces anxiety and depression in Zimbabwe, click here

Psych Central, USA, Friendship Bench Therapy Proves Effective in Treating Mental Illness, click here

MedIndia, India, Friendship benches help reduce mental illness in developing countries, click here

MedScape, USA, Novel Strategy May Boost Access to Mental Health Care, click here

Quo, Spain, En este puedes confiar: nace el banco de la amistad (Psychology — In this you can trust: the Friendship Bench is born; It is a resource that has proven extremely useful for treating depression), click here

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News release in full, click here

Coverage summary, click here

Study funded by Saving Brains shows Kangaroo Mother Care kids 20 years later are better behaved, have larger brains, higher paycheques, more protective and nurturing families

Two decades after a group of Colombian parents were shown how to keep their perilously tiny babies warm and nourished through breastfeeding and continuous skin-to-skin contact, a new groundbreaking study finds that as young adults their children continue to benefit from having undergone the technique known as Kangaroo Mother Care.

In young adulthood, they are less prone to aggressive, impulsive and hyperactive behaviour compared to a control group of premature and low birth weight contemporaries who received “traditional” inpatient incubator care. They are more likely to have survived into their 20s. Their families are more cohesive. They have bigger brains.

Supported by the Government of Canada through Grand Challenges Canada’s “Saving Brains” program, as well as Colombia’s Administrative Department of Science, Technology and Innovation (COLCIENCIAS), the study is published today in the journal Pediatrics.

“This study indicates that Kangaroo Mother Care has significant, long-lasting social and behavioural protective effects 20 years after the intervention,” says lead researcher Dr. Nathalie Charpak, of the Kangaroo Foundation in Bogotá.

The technique’s early impact was still present 20 years later for those who started life as the most fragile individuals, she says. Families trained in Kangaroo Mother Care were more likely to remain together and to be more protective and nurturing, reflected in their children’s lower school absenteeism, ability to express feelings, and reduced hyperactivity, aggressiveness and antisocial conduct as young adults.

“A premature infant is born somewhere in the world every two seconds,” says Dr. Peter A. Singer, Chief Executive Officer of Grand Challenges Canada. “This study shows that Kangaroo Mother Care gives premature and low birth weight babies a better chance of thriving. Kangaroo Mother Care saves brains and makes premature and low birth weight babies healthier and wealthier.”

What is Kangaroo Mother Care?

About 15 million premature infants are born each year, according to the World Health Organization. Preterm birth complications are the leading cause of death among children under 5, responsible for nearly 1 million deaths in 2015; many survivors face a lifetime of disability, including learning disabilities and visual and hearing problems.

Premature and low birth weight infants generally require extra care to avoid illness and death from secondary, preventable complications such as hypothermia and infection. This is a particular problem in developing countries, where incubators and similar technologies are often scarce, over-crowded or unreliable, as well as costly.

A trained Kangaroo Mother Care parent or caregiver becomes a child’s incubator and its main source of food and stimulation. The technique involves continuous skin-to-skin contact between caregiver and infant, with the baby nested in a “kangaroo” position on the caregiver’s chest as soon as possible after birth. The technique is accompanied by exclusive breastfeeding.

Kangaroo Mother Care also requires and prepares the mother and child to go home as soon as possible from the hospital, after which there is rigorous monitoring of baby and mother until the infant reaches one year of corrected age (the baby’s age based on due date rather than date of birth). Family solidarity around the frail child is a key element in the success of the Kangaroo Mother Care technique.

Revisiting Kangaroo Mother Care babies 20 years later

The Kangaroo Foundation research compared 18 to 20 year olds who, as premature and low birth weight infants, had been randomized at birth to receive either Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC) or traditional incubator care until they could maintain their own body temperature.

During that initial randomized control trial in 1993-96, researchers documented the short and mid-term benefits of KMC training on the infants’ survival, brain development, breastfeeding and the quality of mother-infant bonding.

In 2012-2014, 264 of the original participants who weighed less than 1800 grams at birth were re-enrolled (61% of infants that qualified).

Looking at mortality, the research found that KMC offered significant protection against early death. The mortality rate in the control group (7.7 percent) was more than double that of the KMC group (3.5 percent).

Among other results of the study:

• School: The KMC group spent about 23 percent more time in preschool and had less than half the rate of school absenteeism compared to the control group.
• Work: As young workers, their average hourly wages were almost 53 percent higher.
• Family: A higher percentage of KMC children (almost 22 percent) grew up living with both parents. The families of KMC children were found to be more stimulating, protective, and dedicated to their children compared to the families in the control group.
• Behaviour: Scores for aggressiveness and hyperactivity were 16 percent lower in the KMC group, particularly among less-educated mothers. Scores for externalization (the ability to express feelings, especially negative feelings), a trait associated with risk of juvenile delinquency, academic failure, and inadequate social adjustment, were 20 percent lower in the KMC group on average. The parents of KMC children also reported that their children exhibited less antisocial behaviour compared to the reports of the parents of the counterparts in the control group.
• Cerebral development: Compared with those in the control group, KMC participants had larger brains – significantly larger volumes of total grey matter, cerebral cortex, and left caudate nucleus, which plays a vital role in how the brain learns, specifically related to the storing and processing of memories.
• Overall IQ: Tests after 20 years show a small but significant (3.6 percent) advantage in overall intelligence (IQ) for the most fragile KMC babies (those with an abnormal or transient neurological exam at 6 months) compared to similar infants in the control group.

The world needs Kangaroo Mother Care

Dr. Charpak notes that as neonatal technology becomes more accessible throughout the world, more premature and low birth weight infants are saved with fewer serious consequences in later years.

“That is why the detection of ‘minor’ consequences becomes important,” she says. “Minor effects like mild cognitive deficits, lack of fine coordination, poor hearing or eyesight and attention deficit can often go undetected but have a profound effect on the lives of families.

“The findings of our 20-year KMC study should inform the modalities of medical, psychological and social postnatal interventions such as Kangaroo Mother Care so that we can continue to reduce the disorders caused by prematurity and low birth weight.”

Dr. Charpak says that this new knowledge must be used to extend KMC coverage to the 18 million premature and low birth weight infants born each year who are candidates for the technique.

“We firmly believe that this is a powerful, efficient, scientifically based health care intervention that can be used in all settings, from those with very restricted to unrestricted access to health care,” she says.

“This study demonstrates that Kangaroo Mother Care can make all the difference in the world for premature and low birth weight infants,” says Dr. Karlee Silver, Vice President Programs at Grand Challenges Canada. “Kangaroo Mother Care is a cost-effective, modern method of care that can and should be applied in every country.”

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About Grand Challenges Canada

Grand Challenges Canada is dedicated to supporting Bold Ideas with Big Impact in global health. We are funded by the Government of Canada and we support innovators in low- and middle-income countries and Canada. The bold ideas we support integrate science and technology, social and business innovation – we call this Integrated Innovation. Grand Challenges Canada focuses on innovator-defined challenges through its Stars in Global Health program and on targeted challenges in its Saving Lives at Birth, Saving Brains and Global Mental Health programs. Grand Challenges Canada works closely with Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC), the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and Global Affairs Canada to catalyze scale, sustainability and impact. We have a determined focus on results, and on saving and improving lives.
http://www.grandchallenges.ca

About Saving Brains

Saving Brains is a partnership of Grand Challenges Canada, Aga Khan Foundation Canada, the Bernard van Leer Foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, The ELMA Foundation, Grand Challenges Ethiopia, the Maria Cecilia Souto Vidigal Foundation, the Palix Foundation, UBS Optimus Foundation and World Vision Canada. It seeks and supports bold ideas for products, services and implementation models that protect and nurture early brain development relevant to poor, marginalized populations in low- or middle-income countries.
http://www.savingbrainsinnovation.net

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Example coverage:

Newswires / syndicates:

Reuters, UK, Skin-to-skin ‘kangaroo’ baby care tied to better health years later, click here

Agencia EFE, Spain, Los beneficios de método canguro para bebé prematuros duran décadas, dice un estudio, click here

HealthDay, USA, ‘Kangaroo Mother Care’ May Improve Preemies Lives into Adulthood (via US News and World Report), click here

Deutsch Presse Agentur, Germany, Känguru-Methode kann Frühchen lebenslang nützen (Kangaroo method can improve premature life), click here; in Spanish: Los bebés prematuros se benefician del contacto constante con la piel de la madre, según estudio, click here

Anadolu Agency, Turkey, “Kanguru bakımı” çocukların sağlığını ve zekasını olumlu etkiliyor, click here

IndoAsian News Service, India, Kangaroo mother care helps premature babies thrive, click here

Press Trust of India, Kangaroo cuddles can help premature babies thrive: study, click here

ANSA newswire, Italy, Pelle a pelle con mamma e papà, benefici ‘canguro-terapia’ durano decenni, click here

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CBC, Canada, Kangaroo care for preemies shows profound power of touch, click here

BBC World Service (Health Check) 9 minutes long, starts ~16 min mark, click here

The Guardian, UK: ‘Kangaroo care’ makes premature babies healthier and wealthier, study finds, click here

Daily Mail, UK (page 23), How ‘kangaroo cuddles’ can help premature babies: Infants given skin-to-skin contact with mothers develop better than those placed in incubators, click here

The Telegraph, UK, ‘Kangaroo mothering’ helps boost a child’s health and intelligence, study finds, click here

Huffington Post, USA: Incredible Study Shows Cuddling Preemies Helps Them For Decades click here

Forbes, USA, Kangaroo Care Still Benefits Preemies 20 Years Later, click here

NBC News, USA, Cuddling Preemies Kangaroo Style Helps Into Adulthood, click here

LiveScience, USA, Benefits of ‘Kangaroo Mother Care’: Do They Last?, click here

O Globo, Brazil: Método canguru faz prematuros serem adultos mais saudáveis e promissores (Kangaroo method makes premature babies are healthier and more promising adults), click here

Deutsche Welle, Germany, Portuguese: Método canguru beneficia prematuros no longo prazo, click here

Psychology Today, USA, What We Can Learn from Kangaroos, click here

Topsante (via Yahoo News, France), Le peau à peau pour accompagner les bébés prématurés, click here

Die Welt, Germany, Känguru-Methode nützt Frühchen noch Jahre später, click here

Parents .com, USA, Babies Given Kangaroo Care Show Benefits Decades Later, click here

WebMD, USA, Kangaroo mothering ‘helps premature babies’, click here

Spektrum, Germany, Känguru-Methode hilft Frühchen über Jahrzehnte (Kangaroo care helps preemies decades later), click here

Medpage Today, USA, Kangaroo Care Linked to Long-Term Benefits, click here

Epoch Times, China, “袋鼠育儿法”有助于提升早产儿的健康和智力 “Kangaroo Parenting Act” to help improve the health and intelligence of premature children, click here

International Business Times, UK: How ‘kangaroo mothers’ help tiny, premature babies survive and thrive, click here

International Business Times, India: ‘Kangaroo mother care’ turns out to be vital for pre-term babies, click here

Sunday World, UK, ‘Kangaroo mothering’ helps premature babies thrive, click here

ORF Science, Germany, Känguru-Methode schützt Frühchen, click here

Helsingin Sanomat, Finland, Kenguruhoidetuilla keskosilla on aikuisena isommat aivot – ja palkkapussi, click here

Sveriges Radio, Sweden, För tidigt födda verkar gynnas av känguruvård, click here

HealthMag, Greece, Η αγκαλιά “καγκουρό” κάνει πιο υγιή και πιο έξυπνα τα παιδιά (The “kangaroo” hug makes healthier and smarter children), click here

HKN, Korea: 캥거루 케어’ 받은 아이, 똑똑하고 튼튼하다 (‘Kangaroo Care’ receiving child is smart and durable), click here

Klix, Bosnia and Herzegovina: Klokan metoda čini nedonoščad zdravijom i bogatijom (Kangaroo method seems premature babies healthier and richer), click here

Videnskab, Denmark: ‘Kængurupleje’ gavner for tidligt fødte bedre end kuvøse (‘Kangaroo Care’ benefit premature better than incubator), click here

Ethnos, Greece: Τα πρόωρα βρέφη γίνονται πιο υγιή και… πλούσια με τη φροντίδα «καγκουρό» (Premature babies are healthier and … rich with care “kangaroo”), click here

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Full coverage summary, click here

News release in full, click here

(#1 most viewed release (415,000+ page views) of 29,500 news releases hosted by the American Association for the Advancement of Science at its EurekAlert news service in 2016.  Click here for the AAAS news release)

Video: bit.ly/1S3YFjH

Canadian Government-supported researchers use mosquitoes’ own perfume to lure them to lay eggs in trap; Sudbury-based scientist leads project in Guatemala

With Canadian Government funding, a team of innovators from Canada and Mexico have successfully tested a low cost, environmentally-friendly way of destroying the eggs of the mosquito genus that spreads dengue, and likely spreading the Zika virus.

The 10-month study, conducted in a remote, urban area of Guatemala, documents a cheap, easy system to reduce virus-carryingAedesgenus mosquitoes by capturing and destroying its eggs. The results appear today in the F1000Research Zika & Arbovirus Outbreaks channel: bit.ly/1P3chwX *.

The system includes an innovative Canadian-designed trap called an “ovillanta,” created from two 50 cm sections of an old car tire, fashioned into a mouth-like shape, with a fluid release valve at the bottom.

Inside the lower tire cavity, a milk-based, non-toxic solution developed at Sudbury’s Laurentian University lures mosquitoes. Inserted to float in the artificial pond is a wooden or paper strip on which the female insect lays her eggs. The strip is removed twice weekly, analyzed for monitoring purposes, and the eggs destroyed using fire or ethanol.

The solution, which now includes mosquito pheromone (the female insect’s chemical perfume that helps others identify a safe breeding site), is then drained, filtered, and recycled back into the tire. The pheromone concentrates over time, making the ovillanta even more attractive for mosquitoes.

With a grant from Grand Challenges Canada, funded by the Government of Canada, the researchers, led by Gerardo Ulibarri of Laurentian University with collaborators Angel Betanzos and Mireya Betanzos of the National Institute of Public Health of Mexico, conducted the project in collaboration with Guatemala’s Ministry of Health.

They found the rubber ovillanta significantly more effective at attracting the Aedes mosquito than standard traps made from 1-litre buckets.

During the 10-month study, the team collected and destroyed over 18,100 Aedes eggs per month using 84 ovillantas in seven neighbourhoods of the town of Sayaxche (population 15,000), almost seven times the roughly 2,700 eggs collected monthly using 84 standard traps in the same study areas.

A tantalizing but anecdotal observation was that there were no new cases of dengue reported as originating in the ovillanta study test area, a community that would normally anticipate two or three dozen cases in that timeframe.

Targeting mosquito eggs using the ovillanta, Dr. Ulibarri says, is one third as expensive as trying to destroy larvae in natural ponds and only 20% the cost of targeting adult insects with pesticides, which also harm bats, dragonflies and the mosquitoes’ other natural predators.

The ovillanta was modelled after a mosquito trap developed at Laurentian University in response to the outbreak of West Nile virus in northern Ontario, which uses a modified solution to lure the Culex genus of mosquito, the West Nile carrier thought by some to be also the Zika carrier.

“We decided to use recycled tires – partly because tires already represent up to 29% of the breeding sites chosen by the Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, partly because tires are a universally affordable instrument in low-resource settings, and partly because giving old tires a new use creates an opportunity to clean up the local environment,” said Dr. Ulibarri.

Key to the overall system is an online training program to strengthen the mosquito control expertise of local health workers, coupled with a community engagement strategy that involves households in the regular maintenance of their ovillanta.

The community members collect the egg-laden strips of paper or wood from the ovillanta and pass them to the health workers, who conduct the monitoring and destruction using fire or ethanol.

The Aedes genus of mosquito – the principal genus that transmits Zika, dengue, chikungunya, and yellow fever viruses – has proven extremely difficult to control using other strategies, according to the World Health Organization.

A female, with a natural lifespan of up to three months, can start to reproduce in one week. Pesticide-resistance, dwindling resources, and an increase in mosquito-friendly environments have thwarted traditional methods of controlling the insect’s rapid spread.

“Innovation is a key driver underlying the Government of Canada’s approach to international development,” said Canada’s Minister of International Development and La Francophonie, the Honourable Marie-Claude Bibeau. “Innovative solutions that deliver improved global health outcomes – such as for the fight against the Zika virus – are needed.”

“While in its early days, this integrated innovation of a mosquito trap coupled with training local health workers and engaging communities in vector control is a promising example of how Canada’s leadership in development innovation can respond to public health emergencies such as Zika,” said Dr. Peter A. Singer, Chief Executive Officer of Grand Challenges Canada.

High-res still photos: bit.ly/1RxJZ1O

Researchers’ how-to video for creating an ovillanta: bit.ly/1S3YFjH

Video of an ovillanta under construction in Guatemala: bit.ly/25jlxVW

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(* This paper is posted pending peer review, consistent with the open data approach proposed by the World Health Organization for Data Sharing in Public Health Emergencies: bit.ly/1QIEUx7)

For more information, visit grandchallenges.ca and look for us on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn.

About Grand Challenges Canada

Grand Challenges Canada is dedicated to supporting Bold Ideas with Big Impact in global health. We are funded by the Government of Canada and we support innovators in low- and middle-income countries and Canada. The bold ideas we support integrate science and technology, social and business innovation – we call this Integrated Innovation. Grand Challenges Canada focuses on innovator-defined challenges through its Stars in Global Health program and on targeted challenges in its Saving Lives at Birth, Saving Brains and Global Mental Health programs. Grand Challenges Canada works closely with Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC), the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and Global Affairs Canada to catalyze scale, sustainability and impact. We have a determined focus on results, and on saving and improving lives. http://www.grandchallenges.ca

* * * * *

News release in full, click here

Example coverage by:

Agence France Presse, Cheap tire innovation could boost Zika control, click here; in French, “Zika: un piège à moustiques plus efficace, écologique et bon marché, click here; Portuguese, click here; Japanese, click here

ABC News, USA: Using Old Tires to Fight Zika Virus: Canadian Government Funds DIY Mosquito Trap, click here

The Canadian Press, Old tires a new weapon against spread of Zika, click here

CBC Radio As It Happens, How this Canadian-designed mosquito trap could help fight Zika virus, click here

Toronto Star, A Canadian team is testing a $4 hack to solve the Zika crisis, click here

Globe and Mail, Canada, Canadian researcher’s mosquito trap offers hope in fight against Zika spread, click here

The Huffington Post, Canada, Cheap Tire Trap Could Help Fight Zika Virus, click here

Gizmodo, USA and India, This Low-Tech Trap For Killing Mosquito Eggs Is Brilliant, click here

The Weather Network, Canadian team set to turn tires against Zika virus, click here

TreeHugger, USA, Mosquito traps made from old tires 7 times more effective than standard traps

Agencia EFE, Spain, Un método barato para combatir el mosquito Aedes aegypti podría reducir el zika, click here

Agencia Brasil, Cientistas fazem armadilha mais eficaz contra o a adeusa (Scientists make a more effective trap for Aedes), click here

IRIN News, Iran, Persian: روش عجیب کانادا برای مقابله با بیماری مرگبار زیکا (Canada novel way to deal with the deadly disease Zika), click here

Thanh Niên, Vietnam, Cách chống dịch Zika rẻ tiền bằng vỏ ô tô cũ và sữa, click here

Sciences et Avenir, France, Zika: un piège à moustiques plus efficace, écologique et bon marché (Zika: a more effective mosquito trap, environmentally friendly and cheap), click here

Sudbury Star, Sudbury-designed traps could help stop Zika, click here

Motherboard VICE, How Canadian Scientists Plan to Fight Zika With Old Tires and Milk, click here

Daily Beast, USA, Fighting Zika Mosquitos with Tires, click here

* * * * *

Full coverage summary, click here

3 Nov 2015

Safe, systematic collection of human waste in low-resource countries could yield valuable fuels, invaluable health and environmental benefits

Biogas from human waste, safely obtained under controlled circumstances using innovative technologies, is a potential fuel source great enough in theory to generate electricity for up to 138 million households – the number of households in Indonesia, Brazil, and Ethiopia combined.

A report today from UN University’s Canadian-based Institute for Water, Environment and Health estimates that biogas potentially available from human waste worldwide would have a value of up to US$ 9.5 billion in natural gas equivalent.

And the residue, dried and charred, could produce 2 million tonnes of charcoal-equivalent fuel, curbing the destruction of trees.

Finally, experts say, the large energy value would prove small relative to that of the global health and environmental benefits that would accrue from the safe treatment of human waste in low-resource settings.

“Rather than treating our waste as a major liability, with proper controls in place we can use it in several circumstances to build innovative and sustained financing for development while protecting health and improving our environment in the process,” according to the report, “Valuing Human Waste as an Energy Resource.”

The report uses average waste volume statistics, high and low assumptions for the percentage of concentrated combustable solids contained (25 – 45%), its conversion into biogas and charcoal-like fuel and their thermal equivalents (natural gas and charcoal), to calculate the potential energy value of human waste.

Biogas, approximately 60% methane by volume, is generated through the bacterial breakdown of faecal matter, and any other organic matter, in an oxygen free (anaerobic) system.

Dried and charred faecal sludge, meanwhile, has energy content similar to coal and charcoal.

UN figures show that 2.4 billion people lack access to improved sanitation facilities and almost 1 billion people (about 60% of them in India) don’t use toilets at all, defecating instead in the open.

If the waste of only those practicing open defecation was targeted, the financial value of biogas potentially generated exceeds US$ 200 million per year and could reach as high as $376 million. The energy value would equal that of the fuel needed to generate electricity for 10 million to 18 million local households. Processing the residual faecal sludge, meanwhile, would yield the equivalent of 4.8 million to 8.5 million tonnes of charcoal to help power industrial furnaces, for example.

World already reuses the water and nutrients in wastewater

Says lead author Corinne Schuster-Wallace: “Increasingly, water-scarce regions are being driven to separate and reuse the water in wastewater, particularly to expand marginal agricultural lands. There is a technological opportunity, particularly in rural growth areas and small towns, to derive energy as well from this resource.”

UNU-INWEH Senior Research Fellow Chris Metcalfe of Trent University notes that human waste, as with animal waste, is already used to improve food production in many places around the world, governed by guidelines to ensure its safe use.

A study in Sweden established that human urine contains over 300 g of phosphorous, 900 g of potassium and 300 g of sulphur per cubic meter. According to the World Health Organization, an individual’s body excretes an estimated 4.5 kg of nitrogen and 548 g of phosphorus per year.

“We recycle the nutrients in human waste effectively via agriculture in many places, yet the potential energy value of human waste has been given much less attention to date,” says Dr. Metcalfe, a report co-author along with UNU consultant Chris Wild. “Challenges are many but clearly there is a compelling, multi-dimensional financial case to be made for deriving energy from waste.”

Says UNU-INWEH Director Zafar Adeel: “When it comes to creating misery and poverty, human waste mismanagement has few rivals. If we can demonstrate a simple, cost effective new approach in low-resource settings, if we can successfully make a business case and change the economic paradigm of human waste management, we can advance development, protect the environment and help reduce sanitation problems causing one-tenth of all world illnesses.”

“World Toilet Day, upcoming November 19, offers the opportunity to promote new thinking and to continue puncturing the taboos in many places that inhibit discussion and perpetuate the disgrace and tragedy of inadequate human waste management in many developing world areas. This report contributes to that goal.”

Waste to wealth

With initial seed funds from federally-funded Grand Challenges Canada, UNU-INWEH in partnership with the Ugandan Ministry of Water and Environment, its agencies, and other NGO and academic institutions, established the Waste to Wealth national framework.

Waste to Wealth utilises modern anaerobic digestion technologies linked to sanitation systems.

With a focus on rural growth centers and small towns, as well as high population density institutions such as schools and prisons, the biogas and residual material left from energy conversion is a valuable economic resource to provide a return on investment in bioenergy technologies.

The ultimate goal of Waste to Wealth is decentralised (on site) faecal waste management and to help bridge the finance gap for sanitation in Uganda. By identifying value in waste (energy and /or fertilizer), Waste to Wealth provides an incentive to use toilets and a mechanism to finance both upfront capital costs as well as facility operation, maintenance, and expansion. In addition to the economic opportunities, sanitation interventions have known benefits to individual, household and community health and wellbeing.

Video: http://bit.ly/1GH9oRy

Photos: http://bit.ly/1RcC1qr

Website: http://inweh.unu.edu/waste-to-wealth

Phase two of the project involves proof of concept of a series of proposed initiatives, including equipping a Ugandan prison with a $100,000 system requiring approximately $5,000 in annual operating costs, expected to pay for itself through fuel cost savings within 2 years.

Waste to Wealth is one of several pilot projects in Africa to have received seed grants from Grand Challenges Canada for the systematic collection of waste for processing into a variety of energy or agricultural products.

Related projects in Africa include:

Kenya

• Collecting and converting human waste into solid fuel for use by cement plants and other industries
• Franchising toilets; profitably, safely collecting and removing the waste daily, converting it into fuel and fertilizer, and
• Collecting human waste and converting it into high quality, emission free bio-charcoal cooking fuel

Uganda

Production of biogas and organic fertilizer from street waste

###

UNU-INWEH

http://bit.ly/1vjfKAS

The United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health is a member of the United Nations University family of organizations. It is the UN Think Tank on Water created by the UNU Governing Council in 1996. The mission of the institute is to help resolve pressing water challenges that are of concern to the United Nations, its Member States, and their people, through knowledge- based synthesis of existing bodies of scientific discovery; through cutting edge targeted research that identifies emerging policy issues; through application of on-the-ground scalable solutions based on credible research; and, through relevant and targeted public outreach. It is hosted by the Government of Canada and McMaster University.

* * * * *

Example coverage:

TIME Magazine, USA, “How Poop Can Be Worth $9.5 Billion,” click here

Washington Post, USA, “Burning humanity’s poop could yield up to $9.5 billion,” click here

Discovery, USA, “Will the Future Be Powered by Feces?,” click here

Science Magazine, USA, “Human feces from the developing world could power millions of homes,” click here

Reuters / Thomson-Reuters Foundation, UK, “Power from human waste could light millions of homes-UN University” click here; Spanish, “Energía de desechos humanos podría iluminar millones de hogares: Universidad ONU” click here

Agence France Presse, France, French: “Les excréments humains, source potentielle importante d’énergie,” click here; Spanish: “Excrementos humanos tienen importante potencial como para producir energía,” click here; Portuguese: “Estudo aponta potencial energético de excremento humano,” click here; Japanese: “人間の排せつ物で発電、途上国の衛生改善も 国連,” click here

The Guardian, UK, “When will the world wake up to the potential of poo power?” click here

Daily Mail, UK, “Now that’s wind power! Gas from human FAECES could generate electricity for up to 138 million households, report claims” click here

BBC World Service Radio, UK (Science in Action), click here

Chicago Sun-Times, and Sun-Times Network (Seattle WA Sun Times, Jacksonville FL Sun Times, Charlotte NC Sun Times, Columbus OH Sun Times): “Study says world’s human poo worth up to $9.5 billion,’ click here

The Atlantic, CityLab, USA, “The Miraculous Energy Source of the Future: Our Poop?” click here

Huffington Post, USA, “Human Waste Could Light Up More Than 138 Million Homes: Study,” click here

Al Jazeera America, USA, “Human waste could provide power for millions in developing world, says UN,” click here

The Australian, $13bn resource squandered as world wastes value of human dung” click here

Politiken, Denmark, “Københavnerne steger i gas lavet af naboens lort og opvaskevand,” click here

Agencia EFE, Spain, “Científicos proponen aprovechar valor energético y económico de excrementos,” click here; English service: “Scientists propose extracting energy and economic worth of human excreta,” click here

RIA Novosti, Russia, “Топливо из высушенных нечистот принесет миру 10 млрд долларов ежегодно” click here

Science et Vie, France, “Energie: Les Excréments Humains Recèlent d’importantes Quantités de Biogaz Inexploitées,” click here 

CNN en Español, United States, “Excremento humano podría ser la próxima gran fuente de energía mundial, según la ONU,” click here, CNN Greece, “Ενέργεια από περιττώματα,” click here

Global News, Canada, “How human poop could generate power for up to 138 million homes,” click here

La Repubblica, Italy, “Dalle deiezioni umane energia per 138 milioni di case,” click here

Green Report, Italy, “Il valore energetico dei rifiuti umani. Dal biogas del Burkina Faso al Franchising toilets in Kenya” click here

Public Radio International (PRI), USA ” click here

Helsingen Sanomat, Finland, “Ihmisen jätöksistä saisi energiaa miljoonille kotitalouksille,” click here

Yonhap News Agency, Korea, “인류 배설물의 에너지 가치…연간 최대 11조원”, click here

Mental Floss, USA, “Poop Could Be the World’s Next Big Energy Resource,” click here

* * * * *

Full summary of coverage in 14 languages from 59 countries, click here

News release in full, click here

25 May 2015

Innovative ‘flocked swab’ improves diagnosis, treatment of deadly childhood diarrheal diseases; results could prompt rethink of how to manage second leading cause of death among children under 5

With Canadian government funding, medical scientists have created and demonstrated a new tool that could dramatically lower the tragic annual toll of 760,000 infants and children killed, and millions more stunted, due to severe diarrhea.

Using an inexpensive innovation in specimen collection, the Canadian-led team diagnosed previously unrecognized pathogens that had caused the severe diarrhea of over one-third of children in a group of southern Africa hospitals.

With a grant from federally-funded Grand Challenges Canada, McMaster University researchers designed and tested in Botswana a specially-designed “flocked swab” for collecting samples from children admitted to hospitals with severe diarrheal disease — the second-leading cause of death of children under five in developing countries.

The flocked rectal swab eliminates the wait and biohazard involved in obtaining and transporting a bulk stool (feces) sample from an infant or child. This efficiency enabled implementation of a randomized clinical trial evaluating same-day diagnosis and treatment for a broad number of pathogens — the first study of its kind anywhere.

Published by the Journal of the Pediatric Infectious Disease Society, the study documented that over one-third of 671 babies hospitalized with severe diarrhea – including 17 of 26 (65%) who ultimately died – were infected with a treatable pathogen, infections that had gone unrecognized at the hospital and therefore generally went untreated.

Because so many of these severely ill children had treatable conditions, the researchers clinically tested whether same-day rapid diagnosis followed by timely, appropriate therapy would lead to improved outcomes.

Children randomly chosen for rapid testing using the flocked swab and appropriate treatment were 55% less likely to have diarrhoea recur, compared with children not chosen, and they had a clinically significant height gain after 60 days. This measure of growth is an important indicator of children’s ability to reach their full developmental potential.

Led by David Goldfarb, MD (formerly of McMaster University, now at the University of British Columbia), along with Jeff Pernica, MD (McMaster) and collaborators Isaac Quaye, PhD (University of Namibia) and Margaret Mokomane (University of Botswana), the researchers witnessed dramatic health changes as a result of the rapid test-and-treat strategy.

And the ‘treatment gap’ revealed in their Botswana research uncovers a major opportunity to make a big long-term impact in child health worldwide, they say.

“The simple fact is: Diagnostics save lives,” says Dr. Peter A. Singer, CEO of Grand Challenges Canada. “If health workers can quickly and accurately pinpoint the cause of a child’s illness, timely help can be administered, preventing many deaths and improving many lives.”

“The flocked swab offers a shining example of the sort of ‘Bold Idea with Big Impact’ in global health to which Grand Challenges Canada has been devoted since 2010. These are early days and results from an innovation are fully seen only in the long term but we believe the global health potential of this innovation could be very large over time.”

* 1.7 billion cases of diarrhoeal disease worldwide each year; 760,000 child deaths *

According to the WHO, nearly 1.7 billion cases of diarrhoeal disease occur worldwide every year, illnesses that kill about 760,000 children under five years old. Other profound health consequences for children include physical and cognitive stunting and severe malnutrition.

Says Dr. Pernica: “For many of the leading causes of severe diarrhea in children, there are effective low-cost treatments available. The issue, however, is that up until recently it was not possible to determine the specific pathogen causing illness in a timely manner.”

“For this reason, the standard of care for child diarrhea across the developing world has been to ignore what might be the specific pathogen and only provide antibiotics if blood is present in the stool. This may well be contributing to the high mortality observed in African children with severe diarrhea; in Botswana, 4% of such children died in hospital, and in other sub-Saharan countries, the death rate is over 7%. Furthermore, most of those who survive will experience some degree of growth faltering and the possibility of cognitive developmental delay.”

Phase two of the work in Africa involves quantifying more precisely the difference this diagnostic breakthrough achieves.

Says Dr. Goldfarb: “Further demonstrating significant improvements in outcomes would necessitate an entire rethinking of how this very common condition is managed around the world.”

* Data inspires Botswana to fast-track Rotavirus vaccination programme *

Thanks to the group’s research, valuable information acquired at a national level about the specific germs causing child diarrheal disease facilitated Botswana’s fast-tracking an immunization programme and the development of rapid antibiotic treatment protocols.

Botswana’s anti-Rotavirus programme, addressing the leading cause of severe diarrhoea among infants and young children, has vaccinated over 100,000 children and is credited with an overall 55% decrease in the mortality rate among infants at four hospitals during the first Rotavirus season after the vaccine roll-out.

Further analysis two years after the vaccine introduction shows a 32% decrease in all-cause infant diarrhea mortality, and a 26% decrease in all-cause infant diarrhea hospitalizations.

* Simple new device helps save kids *

Resembling an oversized Q-tip® but with a furry 3.2-cm (1.25-inch) tip of nylon fibers attached perpendicularly to the end of a plastic stem, the flocked swab designed in Canada for this new diagnostic purpose and manufactured by Copan Italia, began with a proof-of-concept grant in 2011 from Grand Challenges Canada. (Download photo at http://bit.ly/1KcKAB5; credit: David Goldfarb, Jeff Pernica; video (2011): http://bit.ly/1Ag6KPn)

Unlike cotton swabs common in many homes, the flocked swab is like a soft brush with no absorbent core so the entire biological sample stays close to the surface, facilitating diagnostic tests. (Download photo at: http://bit.ly/1bWwIMt, credit: Copan Italia)

Produced at scale, a swab costs as little as 25 cents.

In a study, published in November in the Journal of Clinical Microbiology, the innovators showed that a specimen obtained using the specially-designed flocked swab was 16% more likely than matched stool samples to reveal two leading, treatable bacterial pathogens causing diarrhea – Shigella and Campylobacter.

The flocked swab, the researchers add, will benefit health care systems worldwide but especially in low-resource settings where incorrectly and ineffectively treated diarrheal disease wastes precious medical resources.

The device will be used in Canada for the first time in the Gastroenteritis Surveillance Project in Nunavut, where acute gastrointestinal infections are at least two to four times higher than other Canadian regions.

Says Dr. Pernica: “Stool collection and transport generally would be unfeasible in such a setting. Flocked swabs, therefore, will be crucial to enabling this surveillance. Enrolment has begun in five communities and is planned for seven remote communities in all across the territory.”

* Celebration: Grand Challenges Canada turns five *

The Flocked Swab is one of 20 innovations being showcased at a Grand Challenges Canada 5th anniversary event: “Celebrating Legacy, Celebrating Partnerships & Results, Celebrating the Future,” (Royal York Hotel, Toronto, Thursday 28 May, 6 – 9 pm).

The May 28 event will feature presentations by innovators in mental health, early childhood development, maternal, newborn and child health and many other areas.

GCC is funded by the Canadian government, which has designated maternal newborn and child health as the nation’s top international development priority.

Says Dr. Singer: “Thanks to the Government of Canada’s support, we have grown to an organization that has supported this and roughly 700 other innovations in 70 countries, all helping to reinforce Canada’s leadership in the area of global health.”

###

For more information, visit grandchallenges.ca and look for us on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn.

About Grand Challenges Canada

Grand Challenges Canada is dedicated to supporting Bold Ideas with Big Impact® in global health. We are funded by the Government of Canada and we support innovators in low- and middle-income countries and Canada. The bold ideas we support integrate science and technology, social and business innovation to find sustainable solutions to health challenges – we call this Integrated Innovation®. Grand Challenges Canada focuses on innovator-defined challenges through its Stars in Global Health program and on targeted challenges in its Saving Lives at Birth, Saving Brains and Global Mental Health programs. Grand Challenges Canada works closely with Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC), the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada (DFATD) to catalyze scale, sustainability and impact. We have a determined focus on results, and on saving and improving lives.

http://www.grandchallenges.ca

Example coverage by:

Toronto Star, New swab could curb deadly diarrhea problem, click here

United Press International, USA,  New swab reveals treatable infection in one third of babies, click here

Agencia EFE, Spain, Bastoncillo médico reducirá mortalidad infantil por diarrea, click here

Hamilton Spectator, Canada  Mac researchers develop diarrhea diagnostic technique; Taking samples with ‘flocked swab’ could save kids’ lives, click here

EuropaPress newswire, Spain, Un tercio de bebés con diarrea severa tiene una infección tratable sin diagnosticar, click here

Africa Science News Service, Kenya, New medical tool to save infants, children, click here

Xinhua, China, Diagnostic tool unveiled to boost war against cholera in Africa, click here

BBC World Service to Africa

South Africa Broadcasting Corp., Channel Africa

Coverage summary in full, click here

News release in full: click here

19-Dec-2014

Canada Funds 23 Bold New Ideas for Global Health

Ultra high-speed gaming laptops and a sensor that lets computer gamers battle foes in the virtual world proved early stepping stones on the path to a quick, inexpensive way to create fittings for artificial legs needed by child amputees in the developing world.

And, with a new grant from Grand Challenges Canada, funded by the Government of Canada, scientists will field test their innovation at a children’s hospital in Uganda early next year.

The $112,000 CAD grant to Christian Blind Mission (cbm Canada) of Stouffville, near Toronto, Ontario, is one of 23 announced today under the Grand Challenges Canada Stars in Global Health program, which supports unique, transformative ideas for addressing health challenges in developing regions.

In all, almost $2.6 million CAD in funding will support projects based in 10 countries and implemented in 17 countries. Each of the innovators will receive a grant of $112,000 CAD to develop their innovations. If their ideas prove effective, the innovators will be eligible for additional Grand Challenges Canada scale-up funding of $1 million CAD.

Building on extensive research and development led by Dr. Matt Ratto at the University of Toronto, the cbm Canada project uses a 3D printer to make a precision-fitted plastic socket to connect a child’s residual limb and a standard artificial leg provided by aid agencies.

Step one requires a precise digital image of a child’s limb: early efforts involved a $200 Xbox scanner accessory used in computer gaming, which follows a player’s physical movements to put him or her in the action. Now, a next-generation “Sense” scanner, rotated in an arc around the leg stump for 45 seconds, is used that, in tandem with inexpensive Skanect software, recreates the residual limb virtually.

The next breakthrough was enabled when Dr. Ryan Schmidt of Autodesk Research enhanced a software program he created (while he was a University of Toronto student) called Meshmixer. His adaptation enabled project leaders to create the socket virtually and quickly, using the powerful graphics card in a high-end portable gaming laptop. A 3D printer then produces the custom-fitted socket using about $3 of cornstarch-based PLA plastic.

Since the entire process requires under six hours, the prosthetic sockets can be replaced easily and cheaply as a child amputee quickly grows. By comparison, producing a socket in Uganda today currently involves five to six labour-intensive days and the use of plaster of Paris molds dried in the sun, often resulting in ill-fitting sockets, the discomfort of which discourages their use.

Under the management of Mitch Wilkie, Director of International Programs, and Emily Kere, Senior International Programs Officer, both at cbm Canada, the project team will experiment with both plastic materials and techniques for 3D printing the wall of the socket to provide the greatest strength and durability with the least weight and material.

They will also evaluate the potential use of Canadian custom-made 3D printers that may be better purposed for this application in the developing world. Most importantly, the team will incorporate good development principles by ensuring disability inclusion, gender equity and environmental sustainability within the project’s scope.

$200 hand prostheses for amputees in Guatemala

Meanwhile, another $112,000 CAD grant to the University of Victoria in British Columbia will also exploit the potential of 3D printing, producing fully functional artificial hand prostheses for amputees in Guatemala for just $200 each, including material and fabrication costs.

The project is based on a prosthesis design developed 15 years ago by innovator Nikolai Dechev, which recently became financially viable with the advent of high-quality, inexpensive 3D printers.

Presently, state-of-the-art, functional artificial hands cost $12,000 (for basic models) to $70,000 (for the most technically advanced models). In this work, body-powered (cable-driven) prostheses of similar functionality can now be 3D printed in plastic in 20 hours.

Tests will be conducted next summer at a clinic in Guatemala with a small number of existing artificial hand users before being expanded by the end of 2015 to a larger group of amputees inexperienced with the appliance.

“I thank the Government of Canada for its commitment to innovation and development in global health,” said Dr. Peter A. Singer, Chief Executive Officer of Grand Challenges Canada. “With this support, Grand Challenges Canada is able to identify and nurture bold ideas from talented innovators, making the developing world a healthier and safer place.”

The full list of grantees includes:

• University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada: Selenium Fortified Table Salt to Treat Arsenic Poisoning in Bangladesh (http://bit.ly/1ukQOlm)
• University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, Canada: Modular Biomaterial Technology for Water Security and Health in Developing Nations (http://bit.ly/1yPUHFh)
• Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada: Adaptive Design International: constructing a global social network for creating low-cost custom adaptations for children with disabilities (http://bit.ly/1wy0JLK)
• University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Canada: Delivering Clean Potable Water Using Smart Nano Materials Derived from Sustainable Resources (http://bit.ly/12tM46L)
• University of Victoria, Victoria, Canada: 3D Printing and Deployment of Upper-Limb Prostheses in Developing Countries (http://bit.ly/12tM46K)
• University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada: A safe, affordable and re-usable women’s personal hygiene kit that empowers women to be the decision-makers regarding menstrual hygiene management, reproduction and the prevention of HIV in low-resource settings (Kenya) (http://bit.ly/1yPUK3V)
• The University of Western Ontario, London, Canada: Community REcovery Achieved Through Entrepreneurism (CREATE): A new paradigm for recovery from serious mental illness in low-resource settings (Kenya) (http://bit.ly/1vOPZH5)
• PathCore Inc., Toronto, Canada: Training and Diagnostic Tools for Reducing the Cancer Burden in Nigeria (http://bit.ly/12tM6LH)
• Christian Blind Mission International, Toronto, Canada: 3D PrintAbility: Leveraging 3D Printing Technology for Prosthetics Production in Developing Countries (Uganda) (http://bit.ly/1wy0LDu)
• ChipCare Corporation, Canada: Combining a unique diagnostic platform for decentralized blood testing with a two-way communications network for data capture, and the training and supervision of community-level health workers (Kenya) (http://bit.ly/1ukQLGk)
• International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh:Evaluation of electronic nose as the point of care test for tuberculosis diagnosis among slum dwellers of Dhaka City, Bangladesh (http://bit.ly/1vOQ25R)
• Vía Cocina – Food Train, Colombia: Behaviour change solutions to non-communicable disease challenges: empowering low-income Colombians to commercialize and consume healthy products via social enterprise micro franchising (http://bit.ly/1yPUHFg)
• Egerton University, Kenya: Mycotoxins Under Arrest: Healthy Synergy of Drying and Storage Devices (http://bit.ly/1yPUK3W)
• Impact Capital Advisors Limited, Kenya: Building a scalable franchise of affordable, safe and stimulating daycares serving vulnerable pre-school children and mothers in Nairobi’s slums (http://bit.ly/1yPUK3X)
• Moi University, Kenya: Development of a Community-Embedded Family Therapy Intervention in Kenya: A faith- and village-based approach (http://bit.ly/1ukQLGl)
• Edon Consultants International Limited, Kenya: Happy Smiles-Healthy Bones: tackling bone deformation due to high-fluoride water (http://bit.ly/1wy0LDt)
• Dignitas International, Malawi: Disrupting Vertical Health Systems: Moving to integrated care for HIV and non-communicable diseases (http://bit.ly/1ukQOlp)
• Eco Med LLC, Mongolia: Immunotherapy of atherosclerosis (http://bit.ly/1vOPZH7)
• African Centre for Innovation and Leadership Development, Nigeria: E-vouchers for veggies: reducing nutrition-related non-communicable diseases (NCDs) through video games and storytelling to promote behaviour change (http://bit.ly/1wy0JLL)
• The University of Agriculture, Pakistan: Rhizosphere engineering through biostimulation of Quorum quenching bacteria for controlling bacterial diseases in vegetables (http://bit.ly/1vOPZH6)
• The Education Enrichment Foundation, Pakistan: Mobile Payment-Enabled Health Insurance (http://bit.ly/1yPUK3T)
• Ifakara Health Institute, Tanzania: Fighting insect-borne diseases and enriching urban agricultural land by using molasses: a common by-product from sugar factories (http://bit.ly/1ukQOln)
• National Science and Technology Development Agency, Thailand: Ultrathin, Light-Weight and Disposable Nanofibrous Filters for Tuberculosis Prevention (http://bit.ly/1wy0Jvx).

For more information, visit grandchallenges.ca and look for us on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn.

About Grand Challenges Canada
Grand Challenges Canada is dedicated to supporting Bold Ideas with Big Impact® in global health. We are funded by the Government of Canada; we support innovators in low- and middle-income countries and Canada. The bold ideas we support integrate science and technology, social and business innovation to find sustainable solutions to health challenges — we call this Integrated Innovation^®. Grand Challenges Canada focuses on innovator-defined challenges through its Stars in Global Health program and on targeted challenges through its Saving Lives at Birth, Saving Brains and Global Mental Health programs. Grand Challenges Canada works closely with Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC), the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada (DFATD) to catalyze scale, sustainability and impact. We have a determined focus on results, and on saving and improving lives.
www.grandchallenges.ca

News release in full, click here

Example coverage by

Global News,Canada, click here

The Province, Vancouver, click here

Daily Mail Online, India edition, United Kingdom, click here

The Hindu, India, click here

The Standard, Kenya, click here

Agencia EFE, Spain, via Yahoo!, click here

Entorno Inteligente, Venezuela, click here

模具联盟网, China, click here

Coverage summary, click here

22-Sep-2014

On the eve of United Nations General Assembly events focussed on ways to save and improve the lives of mothers, newborns and children, Grand Challenges Canada, funded by the Government of Canada, today announced $2.4 million in grants for 22 bold ideas to address this challenge.

The novel approaches include:

• A program for Bangladeshi mothers working in garment factories to express, pasteurize and store breast milk — thereby improving infant nutrition, reducing absenteeism due to child illnesses, and lowering baby formula expense
• Using a 3D printer in Uganda to produce a low-cost plastic case that, together with a microscope, enables the use of mobile phone cameras for medical lab microphotography, the images read by remote experts if and as required for more accurate malaria diagnosis
• A new hand-pump device in Peru to help struggling newborns take a first breath
• A low-cost, portable system for diagnosing child pneumonia in high-altitude Peru
• A program to train traditional midwives in the Peruvian Amazon to use smart phones to collect information from pregnant women and to schedule antenatal care delivered by medical river ships
• A snack produced from rice bran waste in the Philippines to combat child iron deficiency
• Using chicken feathers in Tanzania to make a universally-affordable, effective mosquito net
• A technique for safely storing vaccines at room temperature — considered a holy grail of global health — by applying a novel polymer coating
• A portable ultrasound imaging device to help medical professionals oversee childbirths in remote areas via cellular telecommunications.

Seed funding of $112,000 is offered to each of eight projects based in Canada (Edmonton, Hamilton, Toronto and Sudbury) that will be implemented in the developing world, and to 11 projects from innovators based in low- and middle-income countries (Bangladesh, India, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda). Also announced today; the first three award nominees of 22 projects based in Peru that are funded with Peru’s National Council for Science, Technology, & Technological Innovation (CONCYTEC) under a collaboration announced January 6.

The funding announcement comes as world leaders prepare for the annual United Nations General Assembly where, this year, women’s and children’s health will be at the heart of discussions. In September 2010, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon launched ‘Every Woman, Every Child,’ an unprecedented global movement that aims to save the lives of millions of women and children by 2015.

Through the “Muskoka Initiative” agreed at the G8 meeting in 2010, Canada assumed a leading role in promoting the health of women and children in developing countries. In May of this year, Prime Minister Stephen Harper convened ‘Saving Every Woman Every Child: Within Arm’s Reach’, a high-level summit on maternal, newborn and child health, where Canada has committed another $3.5 billion for 2015 – 2020 towards its top development priority: saving the lives of millions of mothers and children. Prime Minister Harper will also be addressing the United Nations General Assembly.

“Under Canada’s leadership, many more women are surviving pregnancy and childbirth, and millions more children are celebrating their fifth birthday,” said the Honourable Christian Paradis, Minister of International Development and La Francophonie.

“Canada has led efforts to provide developing countries with proven, inexpensive and reliable approaches, such as improving nutrition and access to immunization, so that the poorest and most vulnerable no longer suffer deaths that are easily prevented.”

Said Dr. Gisella Orjeda, President of CONCYTEC: “We are excited to see that our partnership with Grand Challenges Canada to support global health innovators in Peru is helping to improve the health of women and children in Peru through the implementation of bold ideas.”

Dr. Peter A. Singer, Chief Executive Officer at Grand Challenges Canada, noted: “More and more children can celebrate their fifth birthday as a result of Canada’s commitment and leadership. Through supporting these innovative projects, and by working in partnership with the Government of Peru, we are further strengthening the global pipeline of maternal, newborn and child health innovations.”

Local project contacts : http://bit.ly/1p5XHEm

		IMAGE: During the first 60 seconds of life, neonatal resuscitation procedures are highly effective in reducing complications and increasing survival of newborn babies. However, an additional intervention may be needed when… Click here for more information.

CANADIAN-BASED PROJECTS

A new rice bran snack to combat iron deficiency in children
Impact Centre, Toronto (Implementation: Philippines) (#0622-01-10)

Is there a chance kids could snack their way to good health? This project is developing snacks fortified with iron-rich rice bran, an abundant by-product of rice processing typically discarded, burned, fed to animals or turned into cooking oil. The project will engage local expertise in food and chemistry, and capitalize on the “culture of snacking” in the Philippines, a country where iron deficiency affects 70% of children, leading to anemia and other debilitating conditions.

Video: http://youtu.be/kt7JcHcueNw / Images: http://bit.ly/1nyK1Cs / Website: http://bit.ly/ZmbxxL

Stable vaccines without refrigeration
McMaster University, Hamilton (Implementation: India) (#0627-01-10)

Stable vaccines without refrigeration is a holy grail of medical science. In resource-poor locations, vaccine refrigeration is difficult and expensive, contributing to 2.5 million deaths each year that could be prevented with diphtheria, tetanus, measles and other immunizations. Innovators behind this project have found that entrapping vaccines with a polymer allows vaccine viruses to be kept stable at room temperature for months. The polymer, pullulan, is a safe, food-grade polysaccharide (used in Listerine breath strips) with a unique ability to provide a good oxygen barrier while readily dissolving in water. The project will evaluate the technology’s potential use in stabilizing a wide range of vaccines and develop a package for transporting dry, pullulan-coated vaccine and sterile water. At the point of use, the vaccine will be dissolved in water within a sterile package before injection. The approach is easily scalable, as all the materials needed are available at industrial scale.

Video: http://youtu.be/tz6L_ymfFZM / Images: http://bit.ly/1u43EIu / Website: http://bit.ly/1AP8xWd

Disinfecting harvested rainwater with the sun
University of Toronto (Implementation: Bangladesh) (#0634-01-10)

In coastal Bangladesh, as in many other places, rainwater is collected from rooftops and stored in large cisterns for use during the dry season (four to six months). It is often contaminated during collection and microbes proliferate during storage, causing health problems for millions. This Enhanced Solar Disinfection (eSODIS) project combines interventions in a novel way to minimize microbial growth during storage using sunlight, as well as treating the water using a small “just-in-time” solar-activated disinfection/dispensing module. Longer-term, the method may also offer a low-cost way to treat water that is contaminated with arsenic and select pesticides, both challenges that affect millions more in the developing world.

Video: http://youtu.be/J7p1YJB5LQY / Website: http://bit.ly/1qCFmFD

A quick water test to help conquer deadly diseases
University of Toronto (Implementation: Canada, Philippines) (#0636-01-10)

This project in the Philippines is developing a biosensor system for the rapid and accurate identification of Cryptosporidium microbes in water, a cause of diarrhea that leads to half of all deaths of children under five. Working closely with the Puerto Princesa Water District, provincial health offices and non-profit organizations, the project will help oversee the manufacture and distribution of the Cryptosporidium screening systems, and conduct training to ensure their effective deployment, with aims of introducing the systems in other Asian countries.

Video: http://youtu.be/eJXvEO2s9js / Images: http://bit.ly/1nyAVWq / Website: http://bit.ly/1D9pFtF

Water purifier powers itself
H2O4ALL, Toronto (Implementation: Uganda) (#0620-01-10)

A groundbreaking water purification device that powers itself by producing electricity from any source of flowing water has been created through a partnership between H2O4ALL and Formarum, a Canadian engineering company. Based on conventional copper-silver ionization, the technology needs no external power source and can automatically adjust the disinfection rate required – both features being of great importance in regions lacking reliable electricity sources and technical expertise. The technology can also develop economic growth within communities by creating power for other essential needs.

Video: http://youtu.be/eBN67GITp0I / Images: http://bit.ly/1wfYlba / Website: http://bit.ly/XlNehT

Kenya’s CeraMaji water filter uses clay and sawdust, sugar cane
ICChange, Edmonton (Implementation: Kenya) (#0623-01-10)

For many people in rural Kenya, purifying water by boiling it is prohibitively expensive and is limited by the availability of raw materials. Innovators behind this project have developed the CeraMaji Ceramic water filter that uses clay and sawdust or sugar cane to remove 99.97% of Giardia and coliform bacteria from local stream water. The CeraMaji filters will be manufactured at a large, new factory in Kenya.

Video: http://youtu.be/aH4egN1_70g / Images: http://bit.ly/1nyATxQ / Website: http://bit.ly/X4M61G

Maternal tele-ultrasounds in rural Philippines
Sonola Inc. with Impact Centre, Toronto (Implementation: Philippines) (#0621-01-10)

In the Philippines, some 44% of mothers give birth without a doctor. In this project, an affordable ultrasonic obstetric care solution will be developed to improve maternal healthcare for the rural Philippines. In partnership with the Provincial Health Office of Palawan, nurses and midwives will be trained to use portable ultrasound devices to screen for obstetric complications, and get access to medical professionals when diagnostic information is transmitted through cellular telecommunications.

Video: http://youtu.be/PEh9v3MmfjU / Images: http://bit.ly/1nyAVWp / Website: http://bit.ly/1sUSrK5

Destroying the eggs of disease-spreading mosquitoes in Guatemala’s jungles
Laurentian University, Sudbury (Implementation: Guatemala) (#0624-01-10)

This project will empower indigenous people in Sayaxche, Guatemala with knowledge and tools to use a modified “ovitrap” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ovitrap) that effectively destroys mosquito eggs, thereby reducing malaria, dengue fever and other diseases. In a pilot study last year in Mexico that used only 50 modified ovitraps, more than 350,000 mosquito eggs were destroyed during one year, representing a reduction of 70-80% of mosquito eggs compared to unmodified traps.

Video: http://youtu.be/qT3UJzaE0Zg / Images: http://bit.ly/1nyAVWs / Website: http://bit.ly/1APdzSt

PROJECTS FROM LOW- AND MIDDLE-INCOME COUNTRIES

AFRICA

Using chicken feathers to make mosquito nets
Ifakara Health Institute, Tanzania (implementation: Tanzania) (#0681-01-10)

This innovative project combines two facts of life in Tanzania: the abundance of unused chicken feathers (a waste by-product of food production and not typically recycled) and the prevalence of malaria, a major health burden. Mosquito nets have proven effective against malaria transmission, but are not readily accessible and affordable to every family. The innovators will recycle chicken feathers from markets and people’s homes to produce mosquito nets from keratin fibers (found in hair). Keratin fibers are lightweight and strong, and resistant to mechanical and thermal stress, features that will make these novel nets far more durable and reusable. This approach will not only contribute to malaria control, but will have a positive impact on the environment and create many business opportunities.

Video: http://youtu.be/pD9Qf5Bea60 / Images: http://bit.ly/1u43CQY / Website: http://bit.ly/1DbTj1s

Integrating biolarvicides with fertilizer in rice fields to control malaria vectors
Catholic University of Health & Allied Sciences, Tanzania (Implementation:Tanzania) (#0677-01-10)

The majority of all 243 million reported cases of malaria worldwide occur in children under five in Africa. While effective treatment has lowered the mortality rate, current malaria interventions are unlikely to halt the actual transmission of the disease, showing the need for supplementary intervention measures. This project aims to introduce biolarvicides in rice farming practices in rural Tanzania, as an innovative approach in malaria control. By offering larvicides in the form of pellets that can be mixed with fertilizers, local skills are put to use, creating a double impact: the reduction of malaria transmission and increased rice yields. The integrated application of biolarvicides is a safe, effective and environmentally sustainable component of a successfully integrated vector management strategy.

Video: http://youtu.be/KBGfkccs0VU / Website: http://bit.ly/1tXcZ6g

Treating water bodies to control mosquito larvae with the help of Pastoralists
Ifakara Health Institute, Tanzania (Implementation: Tanzania) (#0678-01-10)

Malaria is responsible for 21,000 deaths in Tanzania each year. In the dry season, controlling mosquito larvae (which live in water) is not workable because water bodies are hard to locate. Pastoralists (nomads who raise livestock on natural pasture) know where these water bodies are, since they rely on them to water their cattle. Ifakara Health Institute will recruit pastoralists to find and then treat mosquito breeding sites with the eco-friendly and human-safe insecticide pyriproxyfen (PPF). Livestock nutrient supplements will be an added incentive to pastoralists. This social innovation of integrating pastoralists into a malaria control strategy will enable the efficient treatment of larval hotspots in rural Africa, while improving livestock health and the economic situation of pastoralist tribes.

Video: http://youtu.be/nN48eys6GTE / Website: http://bit.ly/1uPeccY

Baited traps to control houseflies and reduce diarrhea in urban slums and rural areas
Ifakara Health Institute, Tanzania (Implementation: Tanzania) (#0680-01-10)

Diarrhea is a leading cause of death among children in most low-income countries. Outbreaks of diarrhea are closely related to an abundance of houseflies and research has shown that control of houseflies may have a substantial impact on diarrhea incidences. Innovators at Ifakara Health Institute will introduce a baited fly-trap as a sustainable and effective tool to reduce the transmission of related infections by controlling houseflies in slums and rural areas. The traps will be combined with increasing community awareness of houseflies to optimally locate fly-traps. To self-sustain, the fly-trap boxes will show paid ads by mobile phone companies.

Video: http://youtu.be/17JyBWoU9IE / Website: http://bit.ly/1uPeocn

Subscription-based delivery of improved sanitation to low-income households
MSABI, Tanzania (Implementation: Tanzania) (#0682-01-10)

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 2.6 billion people in the world do not have access to improved sanitation, resulting in 1.6 million deaths every year. The vast majority of that burden is borne by children under five. Affordability is considered a major barrier. A high-quality and environmentally safe toilet will be delivered and maintained for a nominal fee and a regular premium. Customers can pay the premium through mobile money solutions, thus making the service available to users without access to conventional banking systems. This integrated approach combines a personalized and affordable waste collection service with an attractive, comfortable and safe hardware product, and novel financing solutions as an added bonus.

Video: http://youtu.be/765tFEoM4n4 / Images: http://bit.ly/1nyAVWr / Website: http://bit.ly/1qFVpCs

Combining mobile phones with microscope adapters to diagnose infectious diseases remotely
Makerere University, Uganda (Implementation: Uganda) (#0684-01-10)

Misdiagnosis of diseases due to the lack of microscopical examination capacity has taken its toll: high mortality rates, drug resistance, economic burden and distrust in local medical practitioners. While microscopes are available to most clinics, there is a lack of trained lab technicians who can process the images. Leveraging recent advances in mobile phone camera-based microscopy, automated lab testing to be carried out with existing microscopes and ubiquitous smartphones would be available. Using 3D printers to produce a hardware adapter for virtually any model of smartphone will enable clinics to easily capture and transmit images using a mobile phone and available microscopes. The appropriate software would automate diagnostic tasks (not focusing on a single pathology), leading to either a local automated diagnosis (lab-on-the-phone) or the transmission of images to a central server where a human expert would review the data.

Video: http://youtu.be/nrcCR-NFCJ0 / Images: http://bit.ly/1nyATxR / Website: http://bit.ly/1q8EFxB

		IMAGE: This is the logo of Grand Challenges Canada. Click here for more information.

Peepoo: a biodegradable toilet turning human waste into valuable fertiliser
Peepoople, Kenya (Implementation: Kenya) (#0659-01-10-01-10)

Poor sanitation poses a major health threat. Human excreta released into the environment without treatment causes illness and death. Every 15 seconds, a child dies due to contaminated water from human feces, with the situation being the worst in urban slums. Peepoople is rethinking sanitation with the design of a personal, self-sanitising and fully biodegradable toilet that prevents feces from contaminating the immediate area, as well as the surrounding ecosystem. After use, Peepoo turns human waste into valuable fertiliser that can improve livelihoods and increase food security. This ecological and economically sustainable toilet will be available for those who need it the most and who can least afford it.

Video: http://youtu.be/CJeFzdlKkbc / Images: http://bit.ly/1nyATxO / Website: http://bit.ly/ZneOg5

ASIA

Mothers’ milk pasteurization for Bangladesh garment workers
ICDDR,B, Bangladesh (Implementation: Bangladesh) (Grant # 0612-01-10)

Mothers working in Bangladesh garment factories will receive access to breast pumps and a low-cost way to extend the shelf life of expressed breast milk. The technique uses an alternative heating medium, minimizing the amount of water and energy normally needed for pasteurization but effectively killing bacteria and viruses while leaving nutrient content largely intact and extending shelf life. The results offer major benefits for the workers, their babies and employers alike, among them improved infant nutrition, reduced absenteeism due to child illnesses and less expense for baby formula. Using existing factory clinics to promote long-term sustainability, the project can be scaled up in Bangladesh and other low- and middle-income countries.

Video: http://youtu.be/2eOknFLRtVg / Images: http://bit.ly/1u43CQZ / Website: http://bit.ly/1uEacNi

Counselling moms on infant feeding, psychosocial stimulation in Bangladeshi slums
ICDDR,B, Bangladesh (Implementation: Bangladesh) (Grant # 0610-01-10)

A combination of poverty, malnutrition, illness and a lack of stimulation at home puts at risk the cognitive development of millions of children in the developing world. Operating in an urban slum of Bangladesh, women trained within this project will make 13 home visits in a child’s first year of life to counsel parents on infant feeding and psychosocial stimulation – an integrated, sustainable, cost-effective approach potentially able to be implemented through the existing health system in Bangladesh. In the scale-up phase, the project will promote integrating such counselling into mainstream government nutrition programs provided through newly-established community clinics.

Video: http://youtu.be/-QuIxHL7RJ8 / Images: http://bit.ly/1nyATxM / Website: http://bit.ly/1BGWFIb

School health centers in urban India
AddressHealth Solutions India Pvt Ltd. (Implementation: India) (#0646-01-10)

In urban India today, AddressHealth offers primary and first-contact medical care, dental treatment, vision services, health education, nutrition, psychosocial health and chronic disease interventions to 40,000 urban children through its chain of integrated clinics and comprehensive school programs, with a goal of reaching one million children in low-income schools by 2019. The onsite program in schools is delivered by nurses, supported by a multidisciplinary child health team and a technology platform that includes televideo links and electronic school health records. In urban India, 40% of children are undernourished;15 % are overweight; 20% have vision issues (half of which go uncorrected); one in eight have psychosocial issues (almost all of which go unaddressed), while 50% have dental caries.

Video: http://youtu.be/DU-ZnHrIu9Q / Images: http://bit.ly/1nyATxS / Website: http://bit.ly/1ph4KKE

Worms help revolutionize sanitation in India
Primove Infrastructure Development Consultants, India (Implementation: India) (#0652-01-10)

A new technology, proven in the lab and now in field tests in rural India, uses composting worms to degrade fecal solids and a filtration system to treat the liquid effluent. The technology takes half the space of a twin pit latrine, treats fecal waste effectively, requires less frequent emptying and costs about the same to install. The new system links to a pour-flush toilet with a water seal, thus providing a hygienic environment, free of smells and flies.

Video: http://youtu.be/UBiIxVEY3Ns / Images: http://bit.ly/1u43EIs / Website: http://bit.ly/1oRhwQV

PERU

A maternal and newborn health program for remote communities in the Amazon
Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, Peru (Implementation: Peru) (#0674-01-10)

Traditionally, hard-to-reach rural areas show increased maternal and child mortality. In Peru, rural villages of the Amazon basin have the worst health indicators in the country and many are only accessible by medical river vessels. The under-five and maternal mortality rates are well above the national average. The Mama River Program, a maternal and newborn program for remote riverine areas in the Peruvian Amazon, wants to change this. The program will train traditional midwives to use smartphones (widely available in Peru) to collect information from pregnant women at their communities and to schedule antenatal care visits by the medical ship staff. It will alert the medical vessel whenever a high-risk pregnancy is identified and send reports when a birth or death occurs, making civil registration and administrative follow-up more effective.

Video: http://youtu.be/4dTpugju9Rs / Website: http://bit.ly/1uEb58A

FIRST BREATH – A portable device to help breathing during the first seconds of life
Instituto Nacional de Salud, Peru (Implementation: Peru) (#0690-01-10)

During the first 60 seconds of life, neonatal resuscitation procedures are highly effective in reducing complications and increasing survival of newborn babies. However, an additional intervention may be needed when neonates can use a little help with their first breath, often requiring a ventilation device. Such a device is harder to find in low- and middle-income countries. The solution is a manual and portable device for initial respiratory support that allows positive pressure ventilation, acting as a respiratory trigger to improve chances for spontaneous breathing. The device employs a bellows mechanism, a valve and a connector, and will be available for different neonatal size groups. Local production will be encouraged to create business opportunities and it is intended to be available at a cost of at least ten times less than standard devices.

Video: http://youtu.be/waj3PgSnTXo / Website: http://bit.ly/1oRiDjr

The Highapp: Improving pneumonia diagnosis among children living at high altitudes
Instituto Nacional de Salud, Peru (Implementation: Peru)

Every year, pneumonia kills 2.5 million children under five, most of them in developing countries. Peru in particular has above-average mortality numbers. Standard pneumonia diagnosis is based on respiratory rate (RR) or Oxygen Saturation (Sa02). However, the reference values established at sea level cannot be used at high altitudes, which is a problem in the Andean Region where a large number of people reside 1,500 meters above sea level or more. Recognizing the need to improve diagnostic accuracy and prognosis of pneumonia in children under five years in the Andean region, this novel project will determine clinical reference values for pneumonia diagnosis at different higher altitudes. A mobile app integrating a score with appropriate reference values to each altitudinal level will help guide community health workers in the evaluation of children.

Video: http://youtu.be/M5_S_xTIIyk / Website: http://bit.ly/1wxfdKE

About Grand Challenges Canada

Grand Challenges Canada is dedicated to supporting Bold Ideas with Big Impact in global health. We are funded by the Government of Canada; we support innovators in low- and middle-income countries and Canada. The bold ideas we support integrate science and technology, social and business innovation to find sustainable solutions to health challenges – we call this Integrated Innovation. Grand Challenges Canada focuses on innovator-defined challenges through its Stars in Global Health program, and on targeted challenges through its Saving Lives at Birth, Saving Brains and Global Mental Health programs. Grand Challenges Canada works closely with Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC), the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) andthe Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada (DFATD) to catalyze scale, sustainability and impact. We have a determined focus on results, and on saving and improving lives. http://www.grandchallenges.ca

News release in full, click here

Example coverage

Globe and Mail, click here

CBC, click here

Agencia EFE (Spanish news agency), click here

Hamilton Spectator, click here

Sudbury Star, click here

CBC Sudbury, click here

Coverage summary, click here

22 May 2014

New investments top $12 million: 4 scale-up projects plus 61 seed grants announced as Canada prepares to host world summit on maternal, newborn and child health, May 28-30

Grand Challenges Canada, funded by the Government of Canada, today announces investments of $12 million in projects worldwide, aimed squarely at improving the health and saving the lives of mothers, newborns and children in developing countries.

From a “lucky iron fish” placed in tens of thousands of Asian cooking pots to reduce anemia, to “motherhood insurance” to ensure that poverty doesn’t impede emergency care if needed during a baby’s delivery, to kits for home farming edible insects to improve nutrition in slums of Africa and Latin America, the 65 imaginative projects focus on a range of health problems that, despite major progress, continue to kill millions of women, newborns and children each year.

Four Canadian-based projects (from Guelph, Toronto, Waterloo and Winnipeg) with proven impact and sustainability will share $2.6 million in scale-up grants and loans from Grand Challenges Canada, matched by $2.6 million from private and public partners, bringing total “transition-to-scale” investments to $5.2 million.

In addition, Grand Challenges Canada “Stars in Global Health” seed grants of $112,000 each ($6.8 million in total) are awarded to:

• 35 innovators from 13 developing countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America
• 26 Canadian-based innovators from the following cities: Vancouver (5 grants), Saskatoon (3 grants), Calgary, Victoria, Edmonton, Montreal, Toronto (2 grants each), Kamloops, Oakville, Oshawa, Ottawa, Waterloo, Sherbrooke, Laval, Sydney.

The announcement coincides with preparations in Toronto to host ‘Saving Every Woman Every Child: Within Arm’s Reach’, a global summit on maternal, newborn and child health, being held from May 28 to 30. Organized by the Government of Canada, the Summit will assess progress on the Canadian-led “Muskoka Initiative” inaugurated at the G8 meeting in 2010. Canada has been a world leader in promoting the health and reducing mortality rates of women and children in developing countries.

To be implemented across 25 low- and middle-income countries, all of today’s projects relate to the Summit goal of leveraging innovation. That also relates closely to one or more of the other critical issues at the heart of the Summit’s agenda:

• Accelerating progress on maternal health
• Reducing newborn mortality
• Saving lives through immunization
• Scaling up nutrition as a foundation for healthy lives
• Building civil registration and vital statistics systems
• Building new partnerships with the private sector to leverage innovation and financing

Examples include:

• The little “Lucky Iron Fish,” now in growing use by cooks in Cambodia, has proven effective in reducing rampant iron deficiency among women – the cause of premature labour, hemorrhaging during childbirth and poor brain development among babies. Initial local reluctance to use a loose piece of iron in cooking pots was overcome by a clever design tapping into Cambodian folklore about a fish species that brings good fortune. In partnership with small businesses across Cambodia, plans for this year and next call for production and distribution of 60,000 lucky iron fish, made from recycled material at a cost of about $5 each, which provide health benefits for roughly three years. (Lucky Iron Fish, Guelph, a transition-to-scale investment, grant #0355, video, images. More information: http://bit.ly/1mIZeWr)
• All projects, listed geographically:
• Asia: 26 projects, total investment: $5.7 million: http://bit.ly/1sbmOIu
• Africa: 31 projects, total investment: $4.86 million: http://bit.ly/RxudX1
• Latin America / Caribbean: 8 projects, total investment: $1.4 million: http://bit.ly/1mKMXMw
• All Canadian-based projects: 30 projects, including four transition to scale investments: http://bit.ly/1mIZeWr
• All projects listed by health priority: http://bit.ly/1oeOZIV

“Our government is proud of the progress on promises Canada and other nations made as part of the Muskoka Initiative to improve the health and save the lives of women, newborns and children in the developing world,” said the Honourable Christian Paradis, Minister of International Development and Minister for La Francophonie. “By supporting innovative proof-of-concept projects and the scale-up of proven ideas, and by leveraging additional private sector knowledge and funds, a difference is being felt in health conditions in developing countries. The creation of jobs here and abroad serves as an added benefit.”

Dr. Peter A. Singer, Chief Executive Officer at Grand Challenges Canada notes that, Grand Challenges Canada selects projects that embody the “Integrated Innovation” approach – the combination of science and technology with social and business innovation to find sustainable solutions to health challenges.

“All of the projects announced today illustrate the power of innovation to save and improve the lives of women and children,” says Dr. Singer. “Innovation really means that tomorrow will be a brighter day than today for those who need it the most in developing nations. I salute the global leadership Canada is showing in focusing the world’s attention on saving every woman and every child.”

About Grand Challenges Canada

Grand Challenges Canada is dedicated to supporting Bold Ideas with Big Impact in global health. We are funded by the Government of Canada and we support innovators in low- and middle-income countries and Canada. The bold ideas we support integrate science and technology, social and business innovation to find sustainable solutions to health challenges – we call this Integrated Innovation®. Grand Challenges Canada focuses on innovator-defined challenges through its Stars in Global Health program and on targeted challenges in its Saving Lives at Birth, Saving Brains and Global Mental Health programs. Grand Challenges Canada works closely with Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC), the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development Canada (DFATD) to catalyze scale, sustainability and impact. We have a determined focus on results, and on saving and improving lives. http://www.grandchallenges.ca

* * * * *

News release in full, click here

Example coverage by:

Globe and Mail, “Canada keeps its funding promises,” click here

Vancouver Sun, “A simple B.C. fix for saving babies; Cambodia: UBC tests elegant solution to vitamin deficiency…fish sauce,” click here

Edmonton Journal, “Two University of Alberta scholars win grants to attack global health issues,” click here

Halifax Chronicle Herald, “CBU helping South Sudan; Sydney school to use federal aid in project to train community health workers,” click here

Waterloo Region Record, “Waterloo charity gets $1.5M to combat malaria in Tanzania,” click here

Cape Breton Post, “Cape Breton University professor behind South Sudanese health project,” click here

Guelph Mercury, “Iron Fish Project gets $500,000 in matching cash,” click here

Agencia EFE, “Canadá financiará ocho proyectos sanitarios en Latinoamérica y el Caribe,” click here

Coverage summary, click here