Team Trust+ bagged the USAID Grand Challenge Award on Family Planning and Reproductive Health at the second Jugaad-a-thon to develop affordable health technologies that address reproductive, maternal, newborn and child health (RMNCH) in India.

The Team won the prize for developing a mobile platform for adolescents and adults that encourages effective communication about family planning.

CAMTech and USAID awarded prizes to the top three teams across all categories led by Team Slow Forward for an effective video consultation for rural areas with low bandwidth.

Team Peekaboo developed an interactive gaming application that aids in identifying vision impairment for children, won second place. Team Shakthi Ki Yukthi which developed a low-cost female contraceptive tool, won the third prize.

GE sponsored three prizes went to Nitrobooster, which developed a cost-effective and steady supply of nitrous oxide for surgeries; O2-Matic, a low-cost method for oxygen production to address unpredictable availability of medical gases in limited resource settings; and Aawaazz, an affordable device that screens hearing impairment in infants in under-served communities.

MSD for Mothers Awards was given away to Team Slow Forward which developed MOM (Maternity over Mortality), that reduced the lab culture time to diagnose maternal sepsis.

In addition to this year’s winners, Jugaad-a-thon participants will have the opportunity to win a special post-Jugaad-a-thon award from FICCI and Terumo India for the top two innovations that make the most progress, 30 days after the event.

Over 300 participated in the event organised in partnership with Lattice Innovations and hosted by GE Healthcare India at the John F. Welch Technology Center, Bengaluru, the Consortium for Affordable Medical Technologies (CAMTech) at Mass General Hospital’s Center for Global Health invited innovators from across India, Africa and the US.

“This year’s Jugaad-a-thon highlighted  diversity of stakeholders in India to accelerate innovation, said Elizabeth Bailey, director, CAMTech.

“The record number of quality ideas generated at Jugaad-a-thon validates our belief that the way forward is for innovating impactful healthcare solutions,” said Milan Rao, president & chief executive officer, GE Healthcare South Asia.

Participants worked around the clock to pitch healthcare problems, formed teams, prototype solutions, and developed business models before presenting to a panel of judges from public health, engineering and business.