GBCHealth is proud to announce the nine finalists for the 2016 Business Action on Health Award: Focus on Women & Girls. Of the record number of companies who applied for the Award, the select group of finalists exemplifies best-in-class initiatives from around the world. The selected programs cover a wide range of interventions from nutrition projects to innovative technologies to community education projects across 22 countries and five continents. Together they demonstrate the unique power of the private sector to improve the health and well-being of women and girls around the globe.

All finalists have now progressed to a rigorous assessment by GBCHealth’s external panel of esteemed judges—comprised of internationally-respected experts from the government, multilateral, NGO, academic and business sectors. One winner and three commended companies will be chosen to be honored at the 4th Women Deliver Conference, May 16-19 in Copenhagen, Denmark.

As the preeminent forum to share, initiate and encourage efforts to empower and engage women and girls, Women Deliver is an inspirational venue to commend this year’s winners. The 2016 conference will focus on how to implement SDGs as they relate to girls and women, with an emphasis on maternal, sexual, and reproductive health and rights, and the interconnections with gender equality, education, environment, and economic empowerment.

Congratulations to all the finalists on their success! We wish them all best as they move to the next stage in the Business Action on Health Awards evaluation process.

Women & Girls
Finalists in alphabetical order	Program Name	Description
Asociación de Azucareros de Guatemala	FUNDAZUCAR’s Programa Mejores Familias (Better Families Program)	Community-focused program to organize, train and educate women to recognize their role in improving the nutritional status of their children and families and empower them towards action.
ayzh	Improved Family Planning and Reproductive Health Services in India – ‘Project Ujjwal’	Targeted market creation for, and implementation of, a “safe delivery kit” to reduce high maternal and newborn mortality from preventable causes.
BASF SE	Affordable Nutritious Food for Women (ANF4W)	ANF4W aims to alleviate micronutrient deficiencies through increasing the local supply and demand for affordable, fortified foods by women of reproductive age, specifically lower-income women.
BD (Becton, Dickinson & Co.)	Together for Girls	Global public-private partnership dedicated to ending violence against children, particularly sexual violence against girls through data collection, education and awareness-raising.
ExxonMobil	Improving the Quality of Malaria Control Services – Preventing Malaria in Pregnancy	Multi-pronged, multi-level approach to decreasing malaria-associated morbidity and mortality among women and their families in endemic areas.
Health Partners International	MORE MAMaZ	An integrated program that empowers communities to address the household and community-level barriers preventing women and girls from accessing maternal and newborn health services.
Johnson & Johnson	A Private-Sector Pioneer in Fostering Innovative Partnerships to Prevent and Treat Obstetric Fistula	Partnership to prevent and treat obstetric fistula, combat the attached stigma and empower affected women with the skills to help them become financially independent and re-integrate into their communities.
Merck & Co.	Merck for Mothers	Application of core competencies and business acumen to address maternal morbidity and mortality in four developing countries and the United States.
Philips	Mobil Obstetrics Monitoring (MOM)	Software innovation that facilitates open communications among community healthcare workers, OB/GYNs and midwives via mobile devices in order to enhance maternal care and monitoring at the community level.