Ghana Health Service (GHS), in partnership with USAID’s Center for Innovation and Impact (CII) and USAID/Ghana, Grand Challenges Canada (GCC), AMP Health and others across the healthcare ecosystem, have launched a call for African innovations that will improve the delivery of maternal and newborn health care in underserved regions of Ghana. 
 
The Country Innovation Platform (CIP) Ghana Pilot aims to identify innovations to improve maternal and newborn health in Ghana. The platform will award $2M CAD (approx. $1.5M USD) in catalytic funding to eligible health innovators. Funding decisions will be made by Ghana Health Service, in collaboration with country-based stakeholders, with international donors supporting the investment.  
 
This bold new initiative aims to address gaps in maternal and newborn health by identifying transformative ideas and providing them with seed grants of $200,000 to $250,000 CAD (approx. $150,000 to $187,000 USD) for a period of 12 to 18 months to develop and test the proposed innovation in six priority regions in Ghana.  
 
The platform will fund innovations that address one of four priority health challenges identified during a co-creation workshop hosted by Ghana Health Service and its partners: improved communication and real-time tracking of information along the patient referral journey for mothers and newborns; increased accessibility and availability of transport for pregnant women and mothers of newborns to reach health facilities, especially in emergencies; improved skills of healthcare workers to deliver high-quality emergency maternal and newborn health services, and increased availability of essential medicines and supplies for mothers and newborns.  

Review the fact sheet to learn more and apply here.