Gates Foundation Grand Challenges — Portfolio
Supports global health innovators through rotating challenge themes in diagnostics, nutrition, and development-focused technologies for public impact.
The Gates Foundation Grand Challenges program is the foundation's principal mechanism for issuing competitive, thematic research funding across global health and development. Launched in 2003 with 14 major scientific challenges and $450 million in initial grants, the program has issued 245 challenge competitions over its history and typically runs 7 to 10 simultaneous open RFPs at any time. Topics…
Rotating competitive RFPs across global health and development themes — including diagnostics, nutrition, disease burden, and AI for development — with 7 to 10 challenges open simultaneously and new topics issued year-round.
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All grants from this funder →Estimating the Global Burden of Diarrheal Diseases
Gates Foundation · United States
Supports teams producing country-level estimates of major diarrheal diseases to inform global health planning and child health priorities.
Grand Challenges — Breakthrough Innovations to Reduce the Cost of Severe Acute Malnutrition Treatment
Gates Foundation · United States
Funds global teams developing system-level innovations that reduce the total cost of treating severe acute malnutrition in Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.
Grand Challenges — Cost-Reducing Innovations for Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food
Gates Foundation · United States
Funds global teams developing innovations in protein, lipids, packaging, and manufacturing that reduce the ex-factory unit cost of ready-to-use therapeutic food by at least 30%.
Grand Challenges — Placental and Gut Inflammation Interventions for Fetal Growth
Gates Foundation · United States
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.
Grand Challenges — Ultralow-Cost Diagnostics and Screening for Low-Income Countries
Gates Foundation · United States
Funds global teams developing diagnostic devices and screening tools that cost approximately $1 per test or near-zero incremental cost per person screened for deployment in low-income countries.
Innovations in Low-Cost and Simplified Pathogen Sequencing Workflows
Gates Foundation · United States
Funds research teams building low-cost, simplified pathogen-sequencing workflows that bring the cost of sequencing a sample down to about US$1-10 for use in low- and middle-income countries.
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