AMR Safe Disposal Innovation Challenge 2026

“Dispose Right. Defeat AMR.”

AMR Safe Disposal Innovation Challenge 2026

This initiative aims to identify scalable, field-ready solutions that enable safe disposal of unused/expired antibiotics and strengthen AMR containment efforts.

Objectives

Enable safe and convenient models for disposal of unused and expired antibiotics at the community level through scalable, accessible digital solutions.

Increase community awareness of the health and environmental risks of improper antibiotic disposal, and its direct contribution to antimicrobial resistance.

Encourage repeated and sustained safe disposal behavior by the community.

Strengthen coordination and real-time data flow between communities, pharmacies, and healthcare facilities to improve monitoring, reporting, and decision-making for AMR containment.

Identification and pilot deployment of potential innovations and prototypes for disposing antimicrobial waste (neutralizing/deactivating unused antibiotics

Challenge Categories

Participants may apply under two categories:

Category 1: Digital solutions (Mobile/Web-Based applications)

Develop scalable platforms that:

Promote safe antibiotic disposal

Build AMR awareness

Facilitate drop-off / take-back systems

Encourage sustained safe disposal behaviour

Category 2: Any other solutions (Models, Prototype, Tools, etc.) for antibiotic disposal

Technology prototypes may include:

Low-cost antibiotic deactivation or neutralization kits

Safe chemical inactivation pouches

Encapsulation or solidification mechanisms

Secure home-use disposal containers

Any other solutions (like Models, Tools, etc.) may include

Social innovations that have potential for community impact with respect to safe disposal of antibiotics.

Who Can Participate?

Student teams, young technologists, startups, NGOs, Software Developers and Health-tech innovators are encouraged to apply

Awards & Recognition

High-impact, real-world ready solutions will be financially rewarded under two prize categories:

Digital solutions (Mobile/Web-Based Applications)
1. First Prize – INR 30,000
2. Second Prize – INR 20,000

Any other solutions(Models, Prototypes, Tools, etc.) for Antibiotic Disposal
1.First Prize – INR 30,000
2. Second Prize – INR 20,000

In addition to financial rewards, potential innovation(s) will be:

Shortlisted for district-level pilots

Given technical mentorship from domain experts

Given field validation and real-world testing experience

Offered visibility and scale-up opportunities through public health channels

Participants are requested to carefully review the Request for Proposals (RFP) document before submitting their application.

RFP Document may be accessed at following link:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/13RGpfv7BYcGs6EyUNDfhxm2j-TKJh3Bt/view?usp=sharing

Registration & Submission Form: https://forms.gle/JGqvbVDPtTaf95sN9

Submission Deadline: 30 April 2026

For Queries: amrchallenge.chri@gmail.com

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