COVIDaction Resilient Health Systems innovation call announces Top 30 finalists
š„ Drumroll pleaseā¦COVIDaction is pleased to announce the Top 30 Finalists for the COVIDaction Resilient Health Systems innovation call! These finalists were selected from a pool of more than 550 applicants, all seeking to support countries in Africa and South Asia to build resilient health systems as they respond to the COVID-19 crisis.
Applications went through a competitive evaluation process supported by a global network of 36 independent expert reviewers. The applications were considered against a number of evaluation criteria, including their impact and reach, evidence of demand, readiness to deploy, implementation feasibility, systems approach, technical specifications, among others.
Competition was steep: The Top 30 innovations represent 5% of those submitted to the call!
From mHealth platforms, to drones, to digital community score cards, the Top 30 showcases a wide range of innovations proposed to build resilient health systems through the pandemic and beyond, with an emphasis on the maintenance of essential health services. This focus is more important than ever, as a new pulse survey conducted by the World Health Organization (WHO) found that 90% of countries experienced disruptions of essential health services during the pandemic. The WHO emphasised that ādocumentation and learning about what works in different settings in terms of mitigation strategiesā is required. The COVIDaction Top 30 reveal a number of strategies to mitigate disruptions to services, such as online patient consultations, changes to supply chain strategies, and new platforms for health information communications.
Without further ado, the Top 30:
What happens next?
The finalists are in the process of updating their applications, providing additional technical information on their innovations, and further elaborating their requests for support. Each finalist is eligible to receive grant funding and technical assistance packages to support the implementation and scaling of their solution, all of which can also help raise the profile of their work. For instance, the Africa COVID-19 Vulnerability Index was the first COVIDaction Data Challenge awardee, recently covered in The Economist, BBC World Service, Quartz, and CNBC. We are working with governments in Nigeria, Zambia, and other countries to adapt the index for local contexts.
