ReachHealth Innovation, Learning, and Action Network
Convening the local innovation ecosystem for solutions to family planning and teen pregnancy challenges
ReachHealth Innovation Challenge awards three winning teams
ReachHealth Innovation Challenge 2020
In partnership with USAID, the ReachHealth Innovation Challenge was a two-day virtual weekend hackathon that took place from November 21-22, 2020. It aimed to find solutions that address unmet needs in family planning and teenage pregnancy. Over the weekend, 100 participants across more than 20 teams came together to ideate innovative solutions on family planning, supported by 20 mentors and 30 partner organizations.
Design Challenges
We had 167 participants from all over the Philippines. Their challenge was to ideate and create prototypes to improve family planning and teenage pregnancy outcomes in the Philippines:
Challenge 1
How might we engage mothers in immediate postpartum family planning?
Challenge 2
How might we ensure that contraceptives are accessible through effective supply chains?
Challenge 3
How might we improve and maximize new service delivery points for family planning goods and services in the Philippines?
They had the opportunity to meet with our 20 mentors who provided real-time guidance on how to further refine their ideas and solutions, and pitched to win.
The Winning Teams
In January 2021, the champion team will received an award subsidy of PHP 1.5 million and two runner-up teams received PHP 750,000 each. They also received three months of incubation support from Villgro to help develop and scale the innovations and connect with partners who can lend further support.
Ivy
A direct-to-consumer adolescent and youth reproductive health platform that enabled smarter family planning.
To find out more, head to their Facebook page.
Yaka.ph
A unified platform for reproductive health tracking, online counseling and prescription deliveries.
To find out more, head to yaka.ph
Edukasyon.ph
Utilizes personalized Artificial Intelligence chatbot and study materials to address the lack of sexual and reproductive health education among youths.
To find out more, head to edukasyon.ph
The need for innovation in family planning
Access to family planning commodities and services continues to be a challenge for many women and families in the country. At the same time, teenage pregnancy rates are on the rise and is considered a national emergency in the Philippines. In the era of COVID-19, last mile delivery for health services, including reproductive and mental health, has become even more challenging. There is a need for more innovative solutions to break the stigma surrounding reproductive health and provide more reliable, affordable, and accessible family planning commodities and services.
What is ReachHealth?
The Family Planning / Maternal & Neonatal Health Innovations and Capacity Building Platform (ReachHealth) will help Philippine communities reduce unmet needs for family planning and decrease teen pregnancy. The USAID-funded project is led by RTI International and is supported by the Duke University Global Health Innovation Center and Villgro Philippines.
ReachHealth Innovation, Learning, and Action Network
The ReachHealth Innovation, Learning, and Action Network (RILAN) is an initiative by ReachHealth – The Family Planning / Maternal & Neonatal Health Innovations and Capacity Building Platform. This network will help Philippine communities reduce unmet needs for family planning services and decrease teen pregnancy.
RILAN was established with the sole intention of disrupting the cycle of teen pregnancy and poverty through innovation in family planning. It aims to:
- Inspire, curate, nurture, and accelerate the sustainable scale-up of innovations that seek to reduce the unmet need for family planning and decrease teenage pregnancy rates.
- Create an organized learning, networking, implementation support, and partnership development platform for a large and diverse community of stakeholders
Our Objectives
Underscoring the importance of long term sustainability and the need to build upon the emerging local innovation ecosystem in the Philippines, RTI International and the Duke University Global Health Innovation Center partnered with Villgro Philippines to help build and grow the ReachHealth Innovation Learning and Action Network (RILAN) with the following objectives in mind:
- To foster both early- and late-stage innovative solutions to reduce the unmet need for family planning and teenage pregnancy in the Philippines
- To bring together key stakeholders in the family planning value chain and discuss pertinent issues that can be addressed through cross-sector collaboration
- To provide promising innovators with financial and nonfinancial resources to build and scale their family planning innovations
- To share learning and expertise by collating and synthesizing information and ideas related to the development, content, evaluation and scale up of innovations related to family planning
- To develop strategic partnerships to leverage further support for innovators and advance the long-term goals of the ReachHealth project at large
About us
ABOUT USAID
USAID leads international development and humanitarian efforts to save lives, reduce poverty, strengthen democratic governance and help people progress beyond assistance
To learn more, visit usaid.gov
ABOUT RTI International
RTI International is an independent, nonprofit institute that provides research, development, and technical services to government and commercial clients worldwide
To learn more, visit rti.org
ABOUT DUKE HEALTH INNOVATION CENTER
The Global Health Innovation Center is a center within Duke University, linking global health, health policy, and health innovation efforts across Duke
To learn more, visit dukeghic.org
ABOUT VILLGRO PHILIPPINES
Villgro Philippines is an early-stage impact enterprise incubator that mentors, funds, and nurtures entrepreneurs who are building innovative market-based solutions that can transform the lives of the poor. Our incubation and acceleration model is designed to provide highly customized early-stage support that is anchored in access to risk capital, high quality mentoring, investment readiness and access to talent, networks and markets.
Community Partners
A woman’s health is her capital.
HARRIET BEECHER STOWE
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