Supporting Innovations in Global Health

February 7, 2018

A $3 birthing kit created by an entrepreneur in India. A mHealth tool that enables health workers to accurately and rapidly diagnose common illnesses in rural Liberia. A chain of primary health clinics in rural Kenya that employ a community-ownership model.

These are just a few of the unique healthcare approaches being supported by the Pfizer Foundation¹ through its Global Health Innovations Grants (GHIG) program. Started in 2016, the GHIG program provides grant funding and technical support to health-focused entrepreneurs and social enterprises in Africa, Latin America and Asia. These individuals are thinking big by starting small, implementing local innovation to tackle some of today’s most complex healthcare challenges.

Given the breadth of the GHIG program during its first year, we’re proud to now share the quantifiable impact these entrepreneurs have had in local communities through a white paper released by GHIG partner, Innovations in Healthcare. Highlights include:

Served nearly 141,000 new patients
Trained 600 new healthcare workers to provide evidence-based care
Established 70 new points-of-care, reaching 175+ primarily rural communities
Provided 12,000 participants with patient screenings at 700+ community-based events
Utilized 400 devices – including mobile phones, tablets and portable diagnostic and monitoring devices – to screen patients, collect data and conduct point-of-care diagnostics and remote consultations

In 2017, the Pfizer Foundation expanded GHIG to include five additional grantees, bringing the total cohort to 20 organizations. To learn more about the program, watch the video below of Caroline Roan, Vice President of Corporate Responsibility at Pfizer and President of the Pfizer Foundation, and Dr. Krishna Udayakumar, Executive Director of Innovations in Healthcare, during a recent session at AtlanticLIVE’s The Power of Purpose: The Corporate Responsibility Summit:

By harnessing the private sector’s resources to help these entrepreneurs’ ideas flourish, the Pfizer Foundation aims to accelerate the innovative and catalytic solutions needed to address today’s most pressing health challenges.

_{1 The Pfizer Foundation is a charitable organization established by Pfizer Inc. It is a separate legal entity from Pfizer Inc. with distinct legal restrictions.}