The Champions of Science Africa Innovation Challenge 2019

Johnson & Johnson launched the Champions of Science Africa Innovation Challenge 2.0, the second continent-wide competition calling on African innovators to submit ideas for innovative technologies, products, and solutions that have the potential to create a positive impact on African communities. The challenge focuses on identifying scalable and sustainable solutions to six major health and environmental problems for Africa’s population.

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Throughout Africa, they are looking to drive entrepreneurship and help advance promising health care solutions. Chosen applicants will receive funding up to US $50,000 and technical mentoring from some of the brightest minds at Johnson & Johnson to help bring their idea to life and create meaningful change in their community or country.

Solution Categories for the Africa Innovation Challenge 2.0

The challenge’s six new solution categories aim to address significant threats to Africa’s health care systems and the environment:

• Botanical Solutions: Sixty to eighty percent of households in Africa still rely on traditional medicine to care for themselves and loved ones. They are seeking naturally-derived, plant-based solutions that tap into traditional knowledge and deliver consumer health and wellness benefits through topical application.
• Packaging Innovations: Managing packaging waste from the increasing consumption in Africa is a challenge for many communities. They are seeking sustainable innovations for packaging of single-dose units and other affordable product sizes that will reduce or eliminate waste, while protecting the product.
• Mental Health: Caring for someone with mental illness, especially the youth, can be very challenging for rural communities. As a result, 75-85% of persons living with mental illness in Africa may not have access to mental health care. They are seeking innovations that create awareness for mental illness as a public health problem and offer solutions for patients,
  caregivers, and their communities to address these issues.
• Health Worker Support: African frontline health workers experience high rates of stress and burnout due to the heavy burden of disease and marked health system challenges. They are seeking innovations that support the wellbeing and resilience of nurses, midwives and community health workers at the heart of delivering care.
• Digital Health Tools: The African continent has the world’s poorest health outcomes, with HIV, TB, Mental Health, Maternal Health, and Ebola having an especially large impact particularly on women. They are seeking digital tools (including apps and other mobile/web/data enabled tech) for these important health care areas that can inform, educate, communicate and connect people to treatment, support and care through their reach and information and improve health outcomes, especially for women.
• Essential Surgical Care: A significant portion of the burden of disease in Africa can be treated with surgery. However, many health facilities in certain areas do not have the capacity to deliver even basic surgical services. They are seeking innovations that promote access to timely, safe, and skilled surgical care.