Challenge Methodology

Global health crises have wreaked havoc on the lives of millions of people, as well as our health systems and economies. Their impact has been seismic, often with the worst repercussions affecting the poorest and most deprived sections of society.

Most global health problems are connected to, and driven by broader challenges such as inequalities, conflict and climate change. When health issues are part of such large global trends, it can be hard to imagine turning the tide. 

This is why we aim to incentivise new ideas and collaboration across different sectors, by asking experts and innovators to work together on a specific problem where there is great potential for impact and an urgent need for new approaches. 

Funding is an incentive to motivate innovators to address a problem, and when a challenge topic is specific, targeted and inspiring, impactful solutions can result. Even those teams who are not successful in winning funding may have developed an idea which they can pursue through other partners and funding avenues, or expanded their network and obtained valuable feedback through the process. 

Overall, challenge methodology can increase the number of actors putting their minds to a greater cause, both for the immediate challenge and in the longer term, leading to wider systemic change. 

In particular, we believe in the potential of combining challenge methodology with a focus on data and analytics… 

Currently in our global health systems there are insufficient systems in place to give the right people the right access to the right data at the right time. One of the key lessons learned during the COVID-19 pandemic was that we are ineffective in combining insights gained across data sources and sectors to support the identification of, response to, and recovery from health emergencies.

Find out more about our Challenges to date on pandemic preparedness and response and antimicrobial resistance.