The National Institutes of Health today launched a $3 million challenge competition to encourage community-based and advocacy organizations in the United States to develop the infrastructure and capabilities necessary to conduct maternal health research. In addition to competing for cash prizes, participating organizations will receive training and mentoring in writing research proposals and building maternal health research infrastructure. The challenge is part of the White House Blueprint for Addressing the Maternal Health Crisis.

The Connecting the Community for Maternal Health Challenge is sponsored by NIH’s Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) as part of the Implementing a Maternal health and PRegnancy Outcomes Vision for Everyone (IMPROVE) initiative. HeroX, in partnership with FedTech, is supporting the design, implementation and management of the challenge on behalf of NIH through a multi-award contract from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).