The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has announced a $30 million investment in an AI platform in Africa that will provide African scientists and innovators with technical and operational support to turn ideas into scalable health and development solutions.

Announced by the foundation from Dakar during the annual Grand Challenges meeting, the investment is part of an urgent call for countries to spend at least an additional $3 billion annually on global health and development research to close the critical gaps in funding for neglected diseases. According to the foundation, the platform and the foundation’s investment are a step toward ensuring the benefits of AI are relevant, affordable, and accessible to everyone—particularly those in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs)—and that the tools are developed safely, ethically, and equitably.

“Over the past two decades, global investments in a pipeline of innovative solutions helped reduce childhood deaths under 5 by half,” said Moussa Balde, Senegal’s minister for higher education, research, and innovation. “But lifesaving innovations still take too long to reach those who need them and are not always designed with equity from the start. Grand Challenges Senegal continues to invest in the country’s brightest scientists and innovators, and we are pleased to be part of this global network of Grand Challenges partners investing in locally led solutions to ensure innovations, including in health, education, and agriculture, benefit everyone equally.”

“New health technologies have the potential to save millions of lives, but R&D funding is going in the wrong direction,” said Gates Foundation co-chair Bill Gates. “Donors need to step up their commitments to ensure health innovations reach those who need them more quickly, so more lives can be saved."

(Photo credit: Getty Images/gorodenkoff)