Another m-Application Challenge for Health, due Nov 2

http://www.grandchallenges.org/MeasureHealthStatus/Topics/CellPhoneApps/Pages/Round6.aspx

and below....

Good luck!



Create Low-Cost Cell Phone-Based Applications for Priority Global  
Health Conditions
Grand Challenges Explorations Round 6
August 2010


Goal:

The UN predicts that cell-phone ownership will reach 5 billion in  
2010, with most growth occurring in the developing world.  This  
proliferation of cell phones and connectivity offers an unprecedented  
opportunity to access vast populations, including previously hard-to- 
reach populations in rural areas.  Cell phones also provide previously  
unavailable capabilities in the developing world, including  
computational power, text and image displays, imaging, incentive  
structures, and standardized interfaces that can be leveraged to  
create powerful systems.  With this GCE topic we seek innovative, high- 
impact global health solutions that leverage these capabilities  
towards our existing global health priorities.


What We Are Looking For:

We seek proposals that leverage the cell phone towards innovative,  
high-impact, and sustainable global health solutions for the world’s  
poorest people.  We seek proposals that are "off the beaten track,"  
daring in premise, and clearly different from the approaches currently  
being developed or employed.  Proposals must (i) have a testable  
hypothesis, (ii) include an associated plan for how the idea would be  
tested or validated, and (iii) yield interpretable and unambiguous  
data in Phase I, in order to be considered for Phase II funding.

Considerations for applicants:

• Applicants should have a clear idea of the cellular infrastructure  
in the targeted geographical area, and propose solutions that do not  
require connectivity beyond the current system;

•  Applications must have a clear hypothesis and an associated plan  
for how their idea would be tested or validated;

• Applications should have a high impact for health interventions,  
providing support to significant end-user populations – this might  
include solutions that directly assist large or strategically- 
significant populations, or provide large leverage for health workers  
or decision makers;

•  Applications should consider the particular needs of target  
populations, such as literacy, and cultural impact;

• Applications that include health interventions should provide a  
discussion of how the intervention would be sustainable and scalable  
in the developing world.


A few of the many specific examples to be considered include:

•  Novel and innovative ideas that utilize cell phones and payment  
systems to create incentives for sustainable global health  
interventions;

•  Novel cell phone-based solutions for high-impact data collections  
from previously-unreachable or unavailable populations in the  
developing world;

• Medical diagnostics that uniquely leverage cell-phone and adhere to  
the ASSURED criteria: Affordable by those at risk, Sensitive,  
Specific, User-friendly (simple to perform with minimal training),  
Rapid and Robust, Equipment-free or minimal equipment, and Delivered  
to those who need it. (Details available in the Round 4 GCE Create Low- 
Cost Diagnostics for Priority Global Health Conditions Topic);

•   Innovative solutions that improve distribution systems and data  
collection for global health interventions, such as vaccination and  
drug delivery;

• High impact and innovative patient and data management applications  
for health workers or decision-makers that provide very large  
improvements over the current systems, or provide previously  
unavailable capabilities;

• Information and decision tools that target key populations and  
uniquely leverage cell-phone technologies.



We will not consider funding for:

• The development of technical solutions that will provide only modest  
or incremental improvements in health outcomes or provide benefit in  
non-strategic populations;

•   Product development proposals that lack a hypothesis or an  
innovation that can be tested, at least in part, during Phase I;

•  Automation of existing tools without a clear advantage in cost or  
reach;

• The development of a technical improvement with little relevance or  
impact on one or more of the priority global health strategies of the  
foundation;

• The development of applications targeted to diagnostics of chronic  
non-infectious diseases (including diabetes, asthma, cancer, etc.), as  
well as life-style guided applications for weight loss, fitness, etc.;

•  Tools that only "increase communication" between health workers and  
patients without a high-impact hypothesis;

• Minor or low-impact improvements to existing cell-phone-based, or  
telemedicine applications.


Grants will be selected on ability to create impact in the context of  
our existing global health priorities.  For more information on The  
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation's priority global health conditions,  
please click here.


Katrin Verclas
MobileActive.org
katrin@mobileactive.org

skype/twitter: katrinskaya
(347) 281-7191

A global network of people using mobile technology for social impact
http://mobileactive.org