Congratulations, SEAD Innovator Changamka!  Changamka was one of four finalists to win a Saving Lives at Birth Round 4 transition-to-scale grants for their work creating a health e-voucher program to reduce financial and informational barriers to care in rural Kenya.  Saving Lives at Birth: A Grand Challenge for Development partnership brings together organizations from across the globe to address the challenges women and children face in healthcare in developing nations.  We look forward to seeing the accomplishments Changamka will make with the grant!

To learn more about the grant and Saving Lives at Birth, read here.

"For Democrats, maybe it's framed as letting the government do its job better and for Republicans, maybe it's framed as letting the market do its job better; however we get there, the idea of helping promote private sector investment in public outcomes is attractive to everyone."

Last week Cathy Clark, Director of CASE i3 and Co-Principal Investigator for SEAD sat down with the Fuqua School of Business to talk about the United States National Advisory Board on Impact Investing of which she is a board member.  The board recently released a series of recommendations for US policymakers on how they can encourage impact investing to encourage economic growth.

To read the full Q&A with Cathy Clark, visit Fuqua's website here.
Read the US National Advisory Board on Impact Investing recommendations here.

What can African healthcare companies learn from India?  In Dinfin Mulupi's article on How We Made It in Africa, it turns out a lot.  Mulupi highlights SEAD innovator Vaatsalya as one of three companies in India that are making waves in global healthcare and that African innovators should take lessons from.

“This combination of targeting an under-served but large market focusing on common conditions, gives Vaatsalya a clear market niche and sufficient scale and focus to achieve cost savings – most of these are benefits from standardisation, flow and specialisation rather than economies of scale,” says KPMG.


Read the full article here.

Erin Worsham, Executive Director for the Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship (CASE), was recently received the 40 Under 40 Leadership Award by the Triangle Business Journal.  The Triangle Business Journal created the award to recognize "the most influential and accomplish young professionals" in the Triangle area.  40 Under 40 awardees have an impressive track record of accomplishments in their organizations and Erin is no exception.  Through CASE, Erin has been able to educate over a thousand MBA students and work with hundreds of organizations on social entrepreneurship.  Congratulations, Erin!

To learn more about the 40 Under 40 Leadership Award and read Erin's interview with the Triangle Business Journal, read the full article here.

"It felt good to have my own transport and to do my work without any problems; many female health workers were inspired and came for training. It also felt good to help other women overcome their fear to ride and become very good riders."

Transportation can be a particular challenge in Sub-Saharan Africa, where rural roadways are often little more than dirt paths that full-sized vehicles can find impossible to traverse.  Motorbike Times recently did a great story on how organizations such as Riders for Health take advantage of trail bikes to deliver services to communities traditionally difficult to reach.  Mahali Hiasa, country director for Lesotho, discusses how she first become involved with Riders for Health, what their work means for the communities they serve, and how the training Riders for Health provides helps to empower women in the communities.


Read the full article here.



"India holds a quarter of the world’s TB burden, with two million new cases annually and half a million deaths. India’s numbers are twice as high as second ranking China. It is a far bigger killer than malaria, HIV/AIDS, and all other infectious diseases combined. It is known to inflict terrible physical and mental suffering on patients and families."


Dr. Shelly Batra, president and co-founder of Operation ASHA, recently wrote for The World Bank Development Marketplace on tuberculosis' effect on Indian society and Operation ASHA's role on eliminating the disease.  A great read for insight on why tackling the TB epidemic in India is an important mission.


Read the full post here. 

"In November 2008, children in Nigeria taking a medicine called My Pikin Baby Teething Mixture began to die. The syrup was counterfeit, the standard glycerin replaced with cheaper diethylene glycol, which looks, smells and tastes the same. But diethylene glycol is an industrial solvent, which attacks the central nervous system, kidneys and liver. The medicine killed 84 children before it was pulled from pharmacy shelves."

Rarely do consumers in the United States have to give a thought to whether their medicine is counterfeit or real.  In the developing world, this issue is a real and present danger.  The New York Times published a great piece by Tina Rosenberg on how Sproxil is using readily-available technology to tackle the issue of pharmaceutical counterfeiting.

Read the full article here. 

In the United States, cervical cancer is largely a preventable disease.  In Haiti, where doctors often work without electricity or supplies, it can mean certain death.  Together David Walmer, Bob Malkin, and Engineering World Health have been working together to develop CerviScope, a medical device that allows for cervical cancer screenings adapted for the harsh conditions found in developing world health clinics.  The New York Times Magazine published a fantastic piece about the incredible 15-year journey from an idea to scaled production of the CerviScope.

“They realized we’d been through lots of renditions, and they realized they were coming in after degreed, Duke University engineers who had volunteered their time,” Walmer says. “They were all pretty excited. They thought, We are solving a real-world problem.”

Read the full article here.

It's been a busy and exciting week for our innovators making headlines around the world.  Find the top three stories below!

WE CARE Solar 
Last week WE CARE Solar was featured in Elizabeth Gore's Huffington Post blog. She discusses the incredible impact that WE CARE's solar suitcase has had on improving outcomes for birthing mothers in a small Ugandan clinic.  "This suitcase has enabled health workers to increase the number of successful live births in the clinic at night to up to 60 a month. I bet you will never look at your suitcase the same!"

Read the entire story here.

Sproxil
In The Guardian, Sproxil CEO Ashifi Gogo was interviewed on their work and challenges offering brand protection services to pharmaceutical companies in emerging markets.  Gogo speaks to how winning the Schwab Foundation Social Entrepreneur of the Year award has impacted their business and how they will continue to innovate and support brand protection around the globe.

Read the interview here.

ClickMedix
ClickMedix won a $100,000 grant through InvestMaryland this week.  InvestMaryland provides grants to startup companies that show great potential and have a focus on technology and biotechnology.  More details on the InvestMaryland initiative can be found here.

Read the full article here.

Recently Sproxil was honored at the World Economic Forum on Africa in Abuja, Nigeria, as one of seven Social Entrepreneurs of the Year.  Congratulations, Sproxil!  Learn more about the award and all of the winners here.