The World Health Organisation Regional Office of Africa (WHO AFRO) has launched the first WHO Africa Innovation Challenge.

The Challenge calls for innovators, researchers and community-based initiatives including the youth and women, that are working on new solutions to improve health outcomes, and to address unmet health needs for Africa.

The challenge categories are Product Innovation, Service Innovation and Social Innovation.

The WHO AFRO Africa Innovation Challenge will prioritise innovative and scalable healthcare solutions, and finalists will receive a sponsored trip to the Africa Health Forum in Cape Verde in March 2019.

There, finalists will have the chance to showcase their innovations and meet with top political, government and business leaders in the health space.

Finalists will also get a chance to exhibit their solutions at the annual meeting of Ministers of Health from the WHO African Region in August 2019 in Brazzaville, Congo.

Entries will be assessed by a panel of independent evaluators based on the innovation’s potential impact on health in Africa as well as the possibility of being replicated or scaled-up.

“This Innovation Challenge recognises the critical need for innovations to address the continent’s challenges in healthcare,” said Dr Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa.

“WHO champions the promotion of homegrown solutions to address health challenges in reproductive, maternal and child health, infectious diseases, noncommunicable diseases and other key areas.

“We hope this challenge will spark the entrepreneurial spirit of innovators and lead to credible health innovations across the continent.”

The deadline for submission of applications is Monday, 10 December, 2018.

By: ClaraDoku/techvoiceafrica.com