Glaxo Smith Kline (GSK) Pharmaceutical Company and Save the Children has launched their third annual $1 million Healthcare Innovation Award that rewards innovations in healthcare that have helped to reduce child deaths in developing countries.

The one million dollar award is part of an ambitious partnership between GSK and Save the Children, aimed at helping to save the lives of a million of the world’s poorest children, a statement to the Ghana News Agency in Accra stated.

According to the statement, this year’s Healthcare Innovation Award seeks entries that demonstrate new approaches to increasing people’s access to health services in developing countries.

The GSK and Save the Children explained that the launch of the third annual one million dollar Healthcare Innovation Award, rewards innovations in healthcare that have helped to reduce child deaths in developing countries.

According to the statement, from July 15 – September 7, 2015, organisations from across developing countries could nominate examples of innovative health approaches they have implemented.

It said the approaches must have resulted in tangible improvements to under-5 child survival rates, be sustainable and have the potential to be scaled-up and replicated.

"With millions of people still lacking access to basic healthcare this year, there will be a special focus on innovations that aim to strengthen developing countries health systems and have proven to help increase access to public healthcare for pregnant women, mothers and children under five."

It said "strengthening health systems for everyone in developing countries is an integral element of GSK and Save the Children’s partnership, which champions universal health coverage to help ensure equitable, accessible healthcare for all."

According to the statement, last year’s Ebola epidemic was one example of the need for new solutions and approaches to address the systemic challenges that weaken healthcare systems.

Quoting Ramil Burden, GSK vice-president for Africa and Developing Countries, the statement said: “Robust healthcare systems are the backbone of thriving communities, but too many countries still lack the trained health workers and facilities they need to manage everyday health challenges, let alone crises like the catastrophic outbreak of Ebola.

“Through this year’s award, we hope to identify and support those innovations that are most effectively helping to strengthen health systems so that mothers and children are better able to access the care they need, when they need it”.

Ms Mavis Owusu-Gyamfi, Director of Programme Policy and Quality at Save the Children, said: “Poor health systems lead to millions of children dying from preventable illnesses.

“The Ebola crisis has taught us that failure to address this problem could easily lead to a global public health crisis. It isn’t enough to focus just on single interventions such as fixing hospitals and clinics, providing vaccines or medicines, recruiting and training more health staff – we have to look at all these things together including how they are financed and governed.

“By making good health systems the norm in poor countries rather than the exception, millions of lives will be saved. Ambitious ideas are needed to solve this challenge and we hope this year to find proven ideas that we can help take to scale”.

Co-chaired by Sir Andrew Witty, CEO of GSK, and Justin Forsyth, CEO of Save the Children, a judging panel, made up of experts from the fields of public health, science and academia, will award all or part of the funds to one or more of the best healthcare innovations.

As well as providing funding, this year’s Healthcare Innovation Award will provide a platform to review and evaluate new approaches to health system challenges, to recognise those that are having an impact, and share their learning with the wider global health community.

The Healthcare Innovation Award was announced following the launch of GSK and Save the Children’s ambitious new partnership in May 2013, which aims to save the lives of one million children in some of the world’s most vulnerable communities.

One of the most unique aspects of the partnership is the focus on working together to maximise innovations to tackle under-5 child mortality.

The statement explained that Save the Children was involved in helping GSK to research and develop child-friendly medicines, with a seat on a new paediatric R&D board to accelerate progress on innovative life-saving interventions for under-fives, and to identify ways to ensure the widest possible access in the developing world.

GSK is one of the world’s leading research-based pharmaceutical and healthcare companies committed to improving the quality of human life by enabling people to do more, feel better and live longer, whilst Save the Children works in more than 120 countries committed to saving children's lives, fight for their rights and help them to fulfil their potential.