NIH offers $8M to improve maternal health outcomes

The NIH is offering up to $8 million in prize money to United States-based innovators or organizations that develop technology to improve maternal health outcomes in areas lacking access to maternity care.

“Many maternal deaths are preventable if the health problem is identified early, but millions of women in the United States live in areas with limited or no access to maternity care,” Diana W. Bianchi, MD, director of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, said in a press release. “The goal of this challenge is to develop easy-to-use technologies for people or their local health clinics to assess whether additional medical care is needed after delivery.”

The Implementing a Maternal health and PRegnancy Outcomes Vision for Everyone (IMPROVE) initiative supports research to reduce preventable maternal deaths and to improve women’s health before, during and after delivery, with a particular emphasis on those disproportionately affected, such as women of underrepresented racial or ethnic groups.

Winners of the competition will be announced in phases, with up to 25 winners earning $20,000 each in the initial Viability Assessment Phase and up to 12 winners earning $75,000 each in the Deep Dive Assessment Phase. In the final Technology Assessment Phase, up to 12 winners will earn $300,000 each, with up to six final winners earning $500,000 each after additional testing and verification. Final winners will be announced in March 2024.