The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced funding for 55 projects from 12 countries through its Grand Challenges Explorations (GCE) initiative.
The announcement includes 52 Phase I grants of $100,000 to help innovative thinkers advance bold ideas designed to address important health and development challenges including novel female and male condom designs to improve user experience and develop a mobile phone-based platform for early screening of sickle cell disease, a press release here said.
GCE is a phased grant programme that funds innovative ideas to tackle key global health and development problems and provides additional resources for projects that demonstrate promise, the release added.
"The Gates Foundation is always looking for new ways to foster and accelerate innovative ideas that can improve and even save, people's lives," said Chris Wilson, director of Global Health Discovery & Translational Sciences at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
