Villgro and FPAI have come together to identify and support start-ups which are developing technology solutions to sexual and reproductive health challenges. In the wake of rising gap in awareness due to socially constrained circumstances from Covid enforced limiting of ground efforts, Villgro and FPAI are backing starts up to find solutions to issues such as early diagnosis of pregnancy, multi-lingual sex education and eco-friendly disposal of sanitary napkins. The hunt is also on for technologies that would enable easy and early diagnosis of polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) as well as ovulation monitoring.

The Family Planning Association of India (FPAI) and Villgro,to that end, have launchedan innovation challenge to identify two winners who would, apart from a cash prize of Rs 3.5 lakh, would secure follow-on funding and incubation support.

Lack of access to sexual and reproductive health services caused sharp spikes in maternal and neonatal mortality at the start of Covid-19 outbreak. United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) estimates that there could be up to 7 million unintended pregnancies worldwide because of the crisis, with potentially thousands of deaths from unsafe abortion and complications during birth due to inadequate access to emergency care.An estimate by Foundation for Reproductive Health Services, India (FRISHI) suggests that 26 million couples will be unable to access contraceptives in India. The interruption in provision of reproductive health services due to the lockdown could lead to an additional 2.3 million unintended pregnancies and over 800,000 unsafe abortions.

According to Ramanathan.V fromVillgroIndia lags behind many countries in the development of infrastructure to deal with sexual and reproductive health problems.With Innovation Challenge, we are looking for disruptive solutions in sexual health.”

As per the Population Foundation of India, the country has 365 million young people at reproductive age and there is need to prevent early pregnancy as well as space the pregnancies. India’s focus has primarily been on sterilization methods, but according to the Indian data, 77% of women who go through sterilization, experience family planning for the first time.

Dr. Manisha Bhidse, Director, Resource Mobilization, FPAI said “Sexual and reproductive health is an important topic in India but still gets overlooked. In India, there has been progress in this area over the past few years with the decline of infant mortality rate and maternal mortality rate but still a lot needs to be done. Our aim is to find solutions for India that are socially transformative and at the same time commercially viable”

Villgro is a social enterprise incubator which creates impactful, innovative and successful enterprises in Energy, Education, Health, and Agribusiness. Villgro has supported 300+ social enterprises, that have together raised over INR 1270 million in investments to create more than 3500 jobs and impact over 20 million lives.

FPA India is a premier civil society organisation delivering essential health services focusing on sexual and reproductive health in over 18 states and union territories of India, in regions where key developmental indicators are poor and gender disparities are high.