Grand Challenges — Placental and Gut Inflammation Interventions for Fetal Growth
Funds global teams developing drug, biologic, dietary, or microbiome-based interventions that target placental and gut inflammatory pathways to improve fetal growth outcomes in low-income countries.
This Grand Challenge is run by the Gates Foundation under its Grand Challenges program. It funds interventions targeting the maternal gut-placenta inflammatory axis — a potential driver of fetal growth restriction (FGR) — which affects an estimated 23.4 million infants born growth-restricted each year, with 60–70% of cases in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. Three funding tracks cover the full i…
Drug-based, biologic, dietary, and microbiome-informed interventions targeting maternal gut-placenta inflammatory axes and oxidative stress during pregnancy. Three tracks: mechanism and target discovery (up to $400K), candidate validation and translational advancement (up to $750K), and early clinical proof-of-concept (up to $1M). Focus on global south pregnancy contexts.
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