Three models recognized for their potential to solve health challenges that cross international borders

WASHINGTON, April 16, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Three winners whose health solutions can be applied to communities around the world have emerged from the Innovations for Health: Solutions that Cross Borders competition, an online challenge hosted by Ashoka Changemakers and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Pioneer Portfolio.

Nearly 400 entrepreneurs, health care professionals, and community members from 73 countries submitted their solutions to improve health and health care, and the winners are:

• E HealthPoint: Transforming Rural Healthcare, India
• VaxTrac: Improving Immunization in Developing Countries, Benin
• Saude Crianca: Holistic Health Solutions for Low-Income Families, Brazil

The Innovations for Health winners were chosen based on their potential to be adapted and applied in different countries experiencing similar barriers to health, as well as their demonstrated innovativeness, impact and sustainability. Each winner will receive a prize of $10,000 in unrestricted funding to continue to help underserved populations, ensuring more accessible, outcome-driven health care. 

"The winning innovators have built upon existing delivery strategies around the world to improve the capacity and reach of health care services. They have a tremendous opportunity to improve the quality of health delivered in communities around the globe," said Diana Wells, president of Ashoka.

The winners were selected from a pool of 15 finalists by an expert panel of judges: Adam Dole, business planning manager at Mayo Clinic; Al Hammond, senior entrepreneur with Ashoka's Full Economic Citizenship Program; Edna Kissman, co-founder of Kissman Langford Consulting; Deborah Bae, senior program officer at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation; and Venrock Partner Bob Kocher.

"The Innovations for Health: Solutions that Cross Borders competition is an impressive example of the power of collaborative entrepreneurship," said Brian Quinn, PhD, team director of the Pioneer Portfolio at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. "We recognize that innovations come from all over the world and these three models have potential for adaptation, replication and impact."

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation is the United States' largest philanthropy devoted exclusively to improving health and health care. The Foundation's Pioneer Portfolio looks beyond conventional thinking to explore solutions at the cutting edge of health and health care.

Quinn announced the three winners at the opening panel of the World Health Care Congress (WHCC) on April 16, 2012, in Washington, D.C.; all finalists were invited to participate in the WHCC Health Innovations Poster Exhibit.

For more information about the Innovations for Health competition and winners, and to see their original competition entries, visit www.changemakers.com/innovations4health.

About Ashoka Changemakers

Ashoka Changemakers is a community of action that connects social entrepreneurs around the globe to share ideas, inspire, and mentor each other. Through its online collaborative competitions and open-source process, Changemakers.com is one of the world's most robust spaces for launching, discussing, and funding ideas to solve the world's most pressing social problems. Changemakers builds on Ashoka's three-decade history and belief that we all have the ability to be a Changemaker.

About the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and its Pioneer Portfolio

The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation focuses on the pressing health and health care issues facing the United States. As the nation's largest philanthropy devoted exclusively to improving the health and health care of all Americans, the Foundation works with a diverse group of organizations and individuals to identify solutions and achieve comprehensive, meaningful, and timely change. Projects in the Pioneer Portfolio are future-oriented and look beyond conventional thinking to explore solutions at the cutting edge of health and health care. For more information, visit www.rwjf.org/pioneer.

Contact: Victoria Emanuelli,  vemanuelli@ashoka.org, 541145043069

SOURCE Ashoka Changemakers