Funding Classes

The grant supporting AI4PEP encompasses diverse funding strategies designed to tackle specific global health challenges. By tailoring funding to thematic gaps, scaling proven innovations, bridging linguistic and geographic disparities, and exploring promising solutions, AI4PEP ensures a holistic approach to public health preparedness and response.

In this section, we delve into the different funding classes within the grant and highlight how projects in these categories are addressing urgent public health needs.

1st Funding Class – Scaling Proven Innovations: Expanding Impact Across Regions

Scaling funding is allocated to projects that have demonstrated significant success and are ready for broader implementation. These initiatives are pivotal for rapidly extending the benefits of responsible AI solutions to larger populations and regions.

Highlighted Projects:

  1. Brazil: Auto AI-Pandemics: Democratizing Machine Learning for Analysis, Study, and Control of Epidemics and Pandemics
    This project leverages machine learning to enhance epidemic and pandemic management, making advanced AI accessible and actionable across diverse health systems.
  2. Ethiopia: Polio Antenna: Responsible AI for Improving Polio Pandemic Surveillance Sensitivity
    A targeted initiative to improve polio surveillance, enhancing disease detection and response in vulnerable regions.
  3. South Africa: AI-powered Early Detection System for Communicable Respiratory Diseases
    Integrating air quality monitoring and health data, this project provides an early warning system for respiratory diseases, which are particularly exacerbated by climate change.
  4. Philippines: Telehealth Data and Pandemic Preparation (TDP4)
    Addressing mental health and resource mobilization in Indigenous communities, this project strengthens telehealth capabilities in under-resourced areas.
  5. Tunisia: INTERACT: AI-Driven Initiative for Tackling Waterborne Pathogen (re)Emergence
    A focus on waterborne diseases, critical for regions facing climate-sensitive health risks, ensures safe water supplies and robust disease monitoring.

Scaling projects highlight AI4PEP’s commitment to transforming proven innovations into scalable, impactful solutions that address pressing health challenges on a global scale.



2nd Funding Class – Thematic Gap: Addressing Underserved Health Needs

Thematic gap funding supports projects that fill critical gaps in public health responses, focusing on underserved or niche areas where AI solutions can make a significant impact.

Highlighted Projects:

  1. Ghana (University of Ghana): AI and Disability Resilience in Pandemic Preparedness
    Focused on urban, peri-urban, and rural communities, this initiative enhances resilience for individuals with disabilities by using AI-driven data collection and analysis.

Thematic gap funding reflects AI4PEP’s dedication to creating equitable and inclusive public health systems that leave no population behind.



3rd Funding Class – Linguistic Gap: Bridging Language Barriers in Health AI

Linguistic gap funding tackles barriers posed by language diversity, ensuring that AI solutions are accessible and effective for communities speaking non-dominant languages.

Highlighted Project:

  1. Cape Verde: Infectious Diseases Pre-diagnosis System using Cape Verdean Language Interaction
    This project develops AI tools tailored to the Cape Verdean language, enabling accurate disease detection and bridging communication gaps in healthcare delivery.

By addressing linguistic gaps, AI4PEP ensures that vulnerable populations are not excluded from the benefits of health innovations due to language barriers.



4th Funding Class – Geographic Gap and Impact per Dollar per Community in Need

This funding class focuses on underserved regions where health systems are strained, ensuring cost-effective, high-impact interventions for maximum benefit.

Highlighted Projects:

  1. Jamaica: AI Solutions to Strengthen Public Health Data Systems in Small Island Developing States
    Tackling infectious diseases and non-communicable diseases, this initiative strengthens public health systems in resource-constrained environments.
  2. Nigeria: Intelligent Early Warning and Response System for Infectious Disease Control
    By improving early disease detection, this project enhances public health resilience in one of Africa’s most populous nations.

Geographic gap funding is vital for expanding the reach of AI innovations to regions that need them most, maximizing impact per dollar spent.



5th Funding Class – Other Promising (Medium-Hanging Fruit)

Medium-hanging fruit projects explore innovative but underdeveloped solutions, offering a pathway for impactful ideas to evolve and scale.

Highlighted Projects:

  1. Cameroon: Controlling Emerging and Re-emerging Diseases Using a One-Health Digital Approach
  2. Dominican Republic: AI and Eco-Epidemiology-Based Early Warning Systems for Aedes-Borne Viruses
  3. Ghana (KNUST): Responsible AI for Developing a Robust Public Health Surveillance System: Early Detection and Prediction of Vector-borne Viral Zoonotic Pathogens
  4. Indonesia: Intelligent Early Warning and Response System Based on Health System Routine Data and Environmental Data to Improve National Health Resilience
  5. Lebanon: Strengthening Lebanon’s Pandemic Surveillance System Through AI-Driven Automation of Laboratory Data
  6. Malaysia: Blockchain-Enabled AI Architecture for Trustworthy Digital Health
  7. Morocco: Applications of AI for Early Diagnosis of Tuberculosis and Prediction of Drug-Resistant Mycobacterium Tuberculosis Strains
  8. Peru: Household Screening for Contagious and Transmissible Respiratory Infections Using Artificial Intelligence-Based Cough Monitor
  9. Senegal: AI and Hybrid Modeling for Community-Based Early Detection of Zoonotic Disease in the Context of Climate Change
  10. West Bank: AI-powered mHealth System for Infectious Disease Early Detection and Early Warning Systems (AIMED)

 

Medium-hanging fruit funding allows AI4PEP to nurture promising innovations, unlocking their potential for scalable impact.



A Strategic Funding Approach for Global Health Equity

The diversity of AI4PEP’s funding strategies ensures a comprehensive approach to pandemic and epidemic preparedness. By addressing scaling needs, thematic and geographic gaps, linguistic barriers, and promising early-stage innovations, AI4PEP is building a robust foundation for global health equity. This grant will catalyze transformative change, leveraging the power of AI to create a healthier, more resilient future for all.