The third cycle of the Gelia Castillo Award for Research on Social Innovations in Health (GCARSIH), an award given by the Philippine Council for Health Research and Development of the Philippine Department of Science and Technology (DOST-PCHRD) that seeks to recognize and support outstanding social innovations in health that address persistent, societal and health systems challenges, was launched during the 17th Philippine National Health Research System (PNHRS) Week on August 13 to 16, 2024 in Butuan City. 

During the pre-conference, an information session was held with different Regional Health Research and Development Consortia representatives, providing its participants with an overview of social innovations in health and the guidelines for the 2024 GCARSIH. Thereafter, Dr. Meredith del Pilar-Labarda, GCARSIH Project Lead, gave a speech officially launching the initiative.

GCARSIH is co-implemented by the Program on Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Health or SIHI Philippines, under the Institute of Clinical Epidemiology of the University of the Philippines Manila National Institutes of Health. Two previous cycles of GCARSIH have been conducted in the Philippines since 2020, and has contributed to the understanding of mechanisms by which social innovations create impact, and discover the keys to scale up or integrate these effective interventions into the larger health system through exploring the experiences of recognized innovators and their innovations.

GCARSIH is open to ongoing social innovations in health developed by Filipinos for the Filipinos. Innovations must have been implemented in the Philippines for at least a year to be eligible for the award. 

The call for applications is open until September 30, 2024. For the purposes of this Award, social innovations in health (SIH) are defined as new solutions (product, services, models, market mechanisms, processes) created by multi-sectoral health system actors. The solutions must address a health need more effectively than existing approaches, and have the ability to enhance people’s capacity to act and take ownership of their own health. Social innovations have health-system changing potential as it changes and strengthens relationships between people and results in a more effective use of available resources. The top innovations in health will receive training and mentoring packages, cash prizes (for the top three places), and eligibility for funding for a research and development project.

For more information on the submission, screening, and selection processes, please refer to this article posted on the DOST-PCHRD website: https://www.pchrd.dost.gov.ph/calls_and_events/call-for-submissions-the-gelia-castillo-award-for-research-on-social-innovations-in-health-gcarsih-2024/

The GCARSIH 2024 Submission Form and Guidelines can be downloaded through the article linked above.