Philips and Philips Foundation win Design Business Association Grand Prix and Gold Award for their high-risk pregnancy referral tool

Philips and Philips Foundation have been honored with the 2023 GRAND PRIX and GOLD Design Effectiveness Award from the Design Business Association (DBA) – one of the design industry’s leading industry associations – for the outstanding design and impact of their groundbreaking High-Risk Pregnancy Referral tool. Designed for low-resource settings and underserved communities, the tool comprises a simple yet highly effective set of easy-to-understand referral cards that allow community care workers to identify high-risk pregnancies and promptly refer expectant mothers to primary care services when complications arise. The cards also help care workers educate expectant mothers about healthy and unhealthy behaviors during pregnancy so their babies can have the best start in life. The cards, which have already won several previous awards, have demonstrated remarkable efficacy in boosting healthcare-seeking behavior among high-risk women residing in socio-cultural settings characterized by low literacy rates, leading to increased utilization of healthcare services.

“Better maternal care results in healthier and more prosperous societies. Receiving this prestigious design award from the DBA is a great recognition of the impact that our High-Risk Pregnancy tool has had in improving maternal and child health – one of the world’s biggest and most pressing challenges. Not just in terms of the individuals involved but also in terms of its wider societal and economic consequences,” said Peter Skillman, Global Head of Design at Philips.

In 2020 alone, the High-Risk Pregnancy tool reached over 280,000 women in underserved communities across Africa, and under the stewardship of Philips Foundation and its humanitarian partners is currently being expanded into Tibet and rural China. The DBA GRAND PRIX and GOLD award recognizes the value generated by the tool, particularly in terms of raising awareness about healthcare and influencing the behavior of both healthcare providers and recipients within the targeted communities.

“The High-Risk Pregnancy tool proves that meaningful innovation doesn’t have to be high-tech, but does have to be people-focused, meeting the real needs of the communities in which it is deployed. It’s why we always put end-users at the very beginning of the design process, so that we are not just innovating for the sake of it – we are innovating to improve real people’s lives,” said Skillman.

More information on the DBA Design Effectiveness Awards can be found here.