NPR

It's 'Shark Tank' For Global Health Inventions

Projects helping to improve medical care for moms and babies in poor countries want to scale up. But first they need to master the art of the pitch.
Bryn Sobott of the FREO2 Foundation presents his group's solution to pneumonia treatment — an oxygen delivery machine that can operate using the energy generated by running water — at a pitch competition organized by Saving Lives At Birth: A Grand Challenge for Development in Washington, D.C.

What would happen if global health innovators appeared on "Shark Tank," the reality TV show that judges business concepts from straightforward to zany?

It'd probably look a bit like the pitch competition the late July conference in Washington, D.C. The event was organized by , a program that gives out grants to projects helping to improve medical care for moms and babies in low-income settings. It's funded by groups like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the U.S. and U.K. government. (Note: As readers of Goats and Soda may know, the Gates Foundation is also a funder of this blog and

You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

More from NPR

NPR4 min readCrime & Violence
Heated Arguments At The Supreme Court In Newest Abortion Case
At issue is a clash between federal and state law about how pregnant women must be treated in the emergency room.
NPR5 min readAmerican Government
First Day Of Trump's Hush Money Trial Kicks Off With Opening Statements And A Witness
The prosecution is arguing that Donald Trump wanted to keep information out of the public fearing that it would turn off voters in 2016. The defense argues Trump did nothing illegal.
NPR5 min read
A Woman With Failing Kidneys Receives Genetically Modified Pig Organs
Surgeons transplanted a kidney and thymus gland from a gene-edited pig into a 54-year-old woman in an attempt to extend her life. It's the latest experimental use of animal organs in humans.

Related Books & Audiobooks