The IRC Announced a New Crowdsolving Challenge to Improve Access to Contraception for Displaced Women and Girls
The International Rescue Committee (IRC) launched a new crowdsolving challenge in partnership with Wazoku and Seafreight Labs. This challenge, “Autonomous Contraception Dispensing Stations,” aims to improve access to contraception for displaced women and girls specifically beyond facility-based care or other health provider settings.
This latest challenge has an award pool of $15,000 for proposed solutions that create autonomous contraception dispensing stations in convenient physical locations along migratory routes. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), over 135 million migrant women and children were on the move globally in 2020. Many of them were fleeing crises and facing significant barriers to clinical care. Access to contraception is a critical issue, as multiple barriers prevent these women and girls and others from obtaining the proven, safe products to avoid unintended pregnancies.
This crowdsolving challenge explicitly seeks solutions that address the following barriers to sustainable, dependable contraception availability along migratory routes:
- Technological: Solutions that allow women to know what contraceptive methods they are eligible for based on an autonomous medical screening, supports various payment methods, and includes internal stock tracking and alerting for product management.
- Practical/Mechanical: Solutions that keep contraceptive products at recommended temperatures, can function in remote locations, prevent theft, and can be operated by women and girls on the move without help.
- Behavioral: Solutions that take into consideration the user’s need for discretion and privacy, take into account that users are on the move, and provide a description of how a typical woman on the move would engage with the machine.
The deadline for solutions is 23:59 ET on October 20, 2024.
This post is from a press release: https://www.rescue.org/press-release/irc-announces-new-crowdsolving-challenge-improve-access-contraception-displaced-women
