The Rockefeller Foundation Announces New Awards to Strengthen Covid-19 Response in Communities Across Africa and Asia

NEW YORK, May 28, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The Rockefeller Foundation announced today that it will award three new grants to support organizations that are working with countries, communities and regions in Africa and Asia to leverage data and technology to bolster their Covid-19 response. These grants will enhance data collection through contact tracing, symptom checking, and testing that can generate data that is crucial for ensuring efficient Covid-19 responses across community, country and regional levels. The Foundation is also expanding its support of off-grid technologies that can quickly address the energy needs of healthcare facilities currently operating without electricity.

"When I was leading the U.S. response to the 2014 outbreak of Ebola in West Africa, using transparent, location-specific, real-time data was a game-changing innovation," said Dr. Rajiv J. Shah, President of The Rockefeller Foundation. "Employing a data-driven response to outbreaks is critical to target prevention and response efforts much more precisely and return to normal more quickly."

With more than 5 million cases globally, countries have turned to technology at all levels of their health systems to respond to Covid-19. Yet many lower- and middle-income countries do not have the same resources as wealthier countries to develop innovations that meet their unique needs and could aid their responses. As a result, those countries with the fewest resources to combat a Covid-19 outbreak are often the least well-positioned to leverage data and technology to drive efficient responses.

"We are partnering with countries and local communities to equip them with the technologies and tools that will help to protect their health and save their economies," said Ashvin Dayal, Senior Vice President, Power Initiative, The Rockefeller Foundation. "Reliable electricity is essential for effective testing and treatment, and off-grid technologies can be rapidly deployed to address this crisis."

To support countries and those on the frontline in their Covid-19 responses, the Foundation is awarding grants totaling $2 million to four organizations: Dalberg, Dimagi, Medic Mobile and Odyssey Energy Solutions. These new grants build on the Foundation's efforts to improve public health and provide reliable electricity to vulnerable communities worldwide and brings its total commitment to the global Covid-19 response to over $50 million.

The Foundation's new grants include:

    --  Dalberg has received a grant to strengthen the Incident Management
        System (IMS) capacity of West African Emergency Operations Centers to
        prepare for, detect and respond to public health emergencies. The
        foundation's grant will support work in six West African countries:
        Senegal, The Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, and Mauritania.
        "Emergency Operations Centers help countries and communities come
        together in a way that saves lives and allows economies to get back on
        their feet more quickly after disasters have passed," said Madjiguene
        Sock, Partner at Dalberg. "This grant will allow us to bolster the
        effectiveness of the Emergency Operations Centers we have supported for
        more than seven years, as well as establish a platform for collaboration
        and knowledge sharing between centers across West Africa."


    --  Dimagi and Medic Mobile have received funding to equip community health
        workers with new digital tools that can bolster a data-driven response
        to Covid-19 in up to 50 countries. Dimagi and Medic Mobile are the two
        largest developers of apps designed specifically for community health
        workers, reaching 700,000 community health workers across the globe.
        "Digital tools can make a real difference in fighting Covid-19, but only
        if they make it into the hands of health workers," said Isaac Holeman,
        PhD, Co-Founder of Medic Mobile. "This collaboration is an opportunity
        for our organizations to share what we know, to leverage our respective
        strengths in order to deliver systems that are optimized for frontline
        workers in hard-to-reach communities." Jonathan Jackson, Co-Founder and
        CEO of Dimagi added, "By creating and sharing these tools, we can help
        community health workers better respond to this devastating virus and
        optimize public health in the long-run. These tools will shape a future
        in which we can predict and respond to pandemics faster and more
        effectively."
    --  Odyssey Energy Solutions is receiving funding to develop its data
        platform, which will enable the fast and sustainable deployment of donor
        capital to energize healthcare facilities with distributed renewable
        energy technology. The Odyssey platform will align donor efforts,
        targeting efficient allocation of over $200 million across at least
        2,000 health centers in sub-Saharan Africa. "Over 70% of healthcare
        facilities lack access to reliable electricity in sub-Saharan Africa,"
        said Odyssey CEO Emily McAteer. "By integrating key datasets with the
        location of priority health facilities, matching them with developers,
        supporting the bulk procurement of mini-grid components, and utilizing
        asset management technologies to track performance, this project will
        help address the energy needs of healthcare facilities immediately and
        reliably." Dana Rysankova, Global Lead for Energy Access at the World
        Bank noted: "The Energy Sector Management Assistance Program (ESMAP) is
        supporting World Bank client countries in their efforts to electrify
        health facilities to help mitigate the Covid-19 health crisis. Odyssey
        can be a very powerful tool in this effort. In Nigeria, for example, the
        Rural Electrification Agency and the World Bank are partnering with the
        Odyssey platform for a significant Covid response effort to electrify
        isolation and treatment centers and primary healthcare facilities, many
        of which are subsequently expected to be expanded into mini grids that
        also serve neighboring communities and businesses."

"The Rockefeller Foundation has supported the field of public health for over 100 years, fueling progress against disease through innovation," said Naveen A. Rao, MD, Senior Vice President, Health, The Rockefeller Foundation. "These grants build upon that legacy to ensure that countries can fight a 21(st) century pandemic with 21(st) century tools."

The new grants are part of the Foundation's overall response to the global pandemic, as described in Dr. Shah's 2020 Annual letter. To read the letter in its entirety, visit: https://www.rockefellerfoundation.org/2020-annual-letter/.

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SOURCE The Rockefeller Foundation