There were 1,696 press releases posted in the last 24 hours and 413,896 in the last 365 days.

GSK and Save the Children offer $1 million award for healthcare innovations in developing countries that reduce child deaths

Embargoed until:Monday 30 June 2014, London UK,00.01

- The Healthcare Innovation Award contributes to an ambitious partnership between GSK and Save the Children, which aims to save the lives of a million of the world’s poorest children

GSK and Save the Children today announced the launch of their second annual $1 million Healthcare Innovation Award at the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health meeting in South Africa. The award was established to identify and reward innovations in healthcare that have proven successful in reducing child deaths in developing countries.

From the 27 June – 25 August, organisations from across the developing world can nominate examples of innovative healthcare approaches they have discovered or implemented. These approaches must have resultedin tangible improvements to under-5 child survival rates, be sustainable and have the potential to be scaled-up and replicated. This year, special interest and attention will be given to work that aims to increase the quality of, or access to, healthcare for newborns.

Last year the top prize was awarded to Friends of Sick Children (FOSC), Malawi, for their ‘bubble’ Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) kit, which demonstrates the impact of simple, low-cost innovations. The ‘bubble’ helps babies that are in respiratory distress, often caused by acute infections like pneumonia, by keeping their lungs inflated so they can breathe more easily. A similar version is already commonly used in developed countries where they cost at least $6,000 each. This innovative low-cost ‘bubble’ CPAP adaptation can be produced for approximately $400.

FOSC was granted an award of $400,000, which along with backing from the Ministry of Health in Malawi, will enable them and their partners to share this life-saving technology with teaching hospitals in Tanzania, Zambia and South Africa.

Co-chaired by Sir Andrew Witty, CEO of GSK, and Justin Forsyth, CEO of Save the Children, a judging panel, made up of experts from the fields of public health, science and academia, will award part of the overall funds to the best healthcare innovation to support further progress. The remaining funds will be made available for runners-up awards as directed by the judging panel.

The award also aims to provide a platform for winning organisations to showcase their innovations and share information with others interested in improving healthcare for children in some of the world’s poorest countries.

Sir Andrew Witty, CEO, GSK said: “We are committed to working in partnership with other organisations and our work with Save the Children is a great example of how we can use our scientific expertise and reach to help improve health outcomes for people around the world. As a direct result of this award last year’s winners have already had a tremendous impact and we want to continue to support them as they develop innovations that can be scaled-up and replicated to help reduce child deaths in the world’s poorest countries.”

Justin Forsyth, Chief Executive, Save the Children said: “We know that in order to bring life-saving healthcare to the hardest to reach children, ambitious new ideas are needed. Last year’s Award found innovations that are saving children’s lives and can be replicated to help reach even more children. This year we look forward to discovering more pioneering solutions that will make a bigger impact for the world’s most vulnerable children.”

While good progress has been made in recent years, every year 6.2 million children worldwide still die before their fifth birthday. Often these children are in the most remote and marginalised communities. The GSK and Save the Children Healthcare Innovation Award aims to discover and encourage replication of the best and most innovative examples of healthcare to have the biggest impact for vulnerable children.

The Healthcare Innovation Award was announced following the launch of GSK and Save the Children’s ambitious new partnership in May 2013, which aims to save the lives of 1 million children in some of the world’s most vulnerable communities. One of the most unique aspects of the partnership is the focus on working together to maximise innovations to tackle under-5 child mortality. For example, Save the Children is involved in helping GSK to research and develop child-friendly medicines, with a seat on a new paediatric RD board to accelerate progress on innovative life-saving interventions for under-fives, and to identify ways to ensure the widest possible access in the developing world.

Recognising that innovation can take many shapes and forms, the criteria for the Healthcare Innovation Award are broad and can include approaches that focus on any aspect of healthcare, including science, nutrition, research, education or partnership working.

Further details on the judging process and criteria can be found online at http://myg.sk/HealthcareInnovationAward. Entries close on 25th August at 11:59pm (GMT). Winners will be announced in December 2014.

Notes to Editors:

Nominations must:

1) Be from a country classified as ‘low’, ‘lower-middle’, or ‘upper-middle’ income by the World Bank (http://data.worldbank.org/country), and not be from the European Union (http://europa.eu/about-eu/countries/index_en.htm). Countries classified as ‘high income’ by the World Bank or that are in the European Union are not eligible

2) Come from an organisation based in an eligible country, with an innovation used for the benefit of the people in an eligible country

GSK – one of the world’s leading research-based pharmaceutical and healthcare companies – is committed to improving the quality of human life by enabling people to do more, feel better and live longer. For further information please visit http://www.gsk.com/.

About Save the Children:

Save the Children works in more than 120 countries. We save children's lives. We fight for their rights. We help them fulfil their potential. http://www.savethechildren.org.uk/

GSK enquiries:

UK Media enquiries:

David Mawdsley

+44 (0) 20 8047 5502

(London)

Simon Steel

+44 (0) 20 8047 5502

(London)

David Daley

+44 (0) 20 8047 5502

(London)

Catherine Hartley

+44 (0) 20 8047 5502

(London)

Sarah Hornby

+44 (0) 20 8047 5502

(London)

US Media enquiries:

Stephen Rea

+1 215 751 4394

(Philadelphia)

Melinda Stubbee

+1 919 483 2510

(North Carolina)

Mary Anne Rhyne

+1 919 483 0492

(North Carolina)

Analyst/Investor enquiries:

Ziba Shamsi

+44 (0) 20 8047 5543

(London)

Kirsty Collins (SRI CG)

+44 (0) 20 8047 5534

(London)

Tom Curry

+ 1 215 751 5419

(Philadelphia)

Gary Davies

+44 (0) 20 8047 5503

(London)

James Dodwell

+44 (0) 20 8047 2406

(London)

Jeff McLaughlin

+1 215 751 7002

(Philadelphia)

Lucy Singah

+44 (0) 20 8047 2248

(London)

Cautionary statement regarding forward-looking statements GSK cautions investors that any forward-looking statements or projections made by GSK, including those made in this announcement, are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those projected. Such factors include, but are not limited to, those described under Item 3.D 'Risk factors' in the company's Annual Report on Form 20-F for 2013.