Audio innovation and songs to spur change in global health: evidence from a national crowdsourcing open call for youth social innovation in Malaysia

<jats:sec><jats:title>Introduction</jats:title><jats:p>Audio innovations remain an important medium to drive innovation in health, especially in low-resource settings. This article explores the role of audio innovation to spur change in the context of a crowdsourcing open call for youth (18–30 years old) in Malaysia.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Methods</jats:title><jats:p>A crowdsourcing open call for youth in Malaysia was organised from March to June 2021 using standards from the WHO-TDR. The open call was called ‘Imagine the World Anew’ and submission categories included youth-led messaging, youth social innovation and youth strategic planning. We analyse open call submissions and provide a more detailed analysis of an audio submission.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Results</jats:title><jats:p>A total 43 entries were submitted to the open call and 6 were selected for grand prizes. One of the two grand prizes in the youth messaging category was a song developed by a youth team. The song was called ‘Rise Up’ and was developed by Malaysian youth to demonstrate how youth have been critical agents for change during the COVID-19 pandemic. The audio format allowed the youth to directly speak to other Malaysian youth, leverage existing audio channels and democratise messaging during COVID-19. Building on the experience from this crowdsourcing open call, we also describe key considerations for open calls to incorporate audio innovations in low-resource settings.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Conclusion</jats:title><jats:p>Audio innovations like songs can mobilise youth and other members of the public and amplify their voices. Audio messages may enhance dissemination of health messages in diverse low-income and middle-income country settings.</jats:p></jats:sec>