NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

How many children’s lives can be saved with $1 million? That’s the question posed to the eight finalists in the inaugural Caplow Children’s Prize, the biggest humanitarian prize for saving the lives of children. The finalists, which range from large organizations (Doctors Without Borders) to small (World Medical Fund), all have different ideas about the best way to save lives. Most are probably effective But only one will take the $1 million.

Child mortality is one of those heartbreaking topics that’s almost too difficult to think about. The trend of childhood deaths is moving in a positive direction–in 2012, approximately 6.6 million children worldwide died before age five, compared to over 12 million in 1990–but many of the deaths that still occur are preventable.

For Ted Caplow, an engineer and entrepreneur who holds the patent for the “vertically integrated greenhouse” and founded urban farming startup BrightFarms and documentary film group Fish Navy Films, the topic of child mortality hits close to home. In 2012, Caplow’s wife gave birth to triplets, who were born prematurely and spent the first month of their lives in intensive care. “We were struck by the amount of resources applied to save the lives of my kids,” he says.