Jhpiego Among First Recipients of Innovation Award From USAID

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Oct 12, 2010, 11:30 ET

BALTIMORE, Oct. 12 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Jhpiego, a global health non-profit and Johns Hopkins University affiliate working to prevent the needless deaths of women and families, is among the first recipients of a U.S. innovation award for work in the developing world.

Jhpiego received a Development Innovation Venture grant of $100,000 to continue its work in developing an inexpensive and reliable self-test for early detection of pre-eclampsia in pregnant women, the U.S. Agency for International Development announced Friday. Pre-eclampsia can lead to eclampsia, a high blood pressure disorder and the second-leading cause of maternal deaths in the developing world.

In the United States, women are tested easily and routinely throughout their pregnancy for pre-eclampsia and eclampsia by a simple urine test costing several dollars. In the developing world, that cost is essentially unaffordable and the equipment necessary for the test is most often unavailable. This test, when perfected, will be "extremely affordable" and easily accessed by women in low-resource settings.

"The technology and its delivery have the potential to reach millions of underserved or unreached pregnant women. If we can inform women early that they are at risk for this complication, we can likely save their lives," said Dr. Harshad Sanghvi, Vice President and Medical Director of Jhpiego.

Jhpiego, working with JHU's Whiting School of Engineering, will use the grant to refine the technology design and engineering of the proteinuria self-test pen, and then conduct a pilot study in a rural district of southern Nepal.

For more information on Jhpiego's development work, please contact Melody McCoy at 410-537-1829 or [email protected].

About Jhpiego

Jhpiego (pronounced "ja-pie-go"), is an international non-profit health organization affiliated with Johns Hopkins University. For 35 years, Jhpiego has empowered front-line health workers by designing and implementing effective, low-cost, hands-on solutions to strengthen the delivery of health care services for women and their families. For more information, go to www.jhpiego.org.

SOURCE Jhpiego