NIH Maternal Health Challenge

The NIH has teamed up with HeroX to launch a $1.3 million maternal health research challenge. This challenge, called Connecting the Community for Maternal Health Challenge 2.0: Research Capacity Building in Maternity Care Deserts, will support organizations that serve pregnant and postpartum women and their families, particularly in areas with limited access to maternity care, which can be a factor in injuries to mothers and babies.

Challenge Overview

The challenge aims to address maternal health deserts and declines in maternity care access nationwide. According to Jamie Elliott, vice president of customer success at HeroX, improving maternal health starts with empowering the communities most affected. The challenge will provide training, mentoring, proposal development support, and milestone-based funding to community-based, advocacy, faith-based, and tribal-serving organizations.

Funding and Prizes

The challenge will fund up to 20 maternal health organizations, providing them with the necessary resources to implement projects. The prizes include a $350,000 first-place prize, a $250,000 second-place prize, and up to eight $100,000 third-place prizes. This funding will help organizations turn local knowledge into meaningful maternal health research, which can inform stats on maternal health outcomes.

Application and Hosting

Applications for Phase 1 are now open. The challenge is hosted by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and funded by the National Institute of Nursing Research, the Office of Behavioral and Social Sciences Research, and the Office of Research on Women’s Health. As reported by Femtech Insider, the latest iteration of the challenge builds on the first maternal health challenge in 2022. Organizations can apply for the challenge, which will narrow down participants in four phases, with the goal of supporting early-stage nonacademic organizations and ultimately improving maternal health, a key aspect of standings in women's health.

The challenge will support community-based organizations in their efforts to improve maternal health, which is closely linked to fixtures in women's healthcare, such as prenatal care and postpartum support. By providing funding and resources to these organizations, the NIH hopes to address the disparities in maternal health care and improve outcomes for pregnant and postpartum women and their families. The applications for the challenge are now open, and the selected organizations will receive support to implement their projects and contribute to the improvement of maternal health research.