IntelliSOFT Receives Grand Challenges Grant to Revolutionize AI-Powered Health Informatics

Empow­er­ing Kenyan Youth for Health and Beyond

In an era dri­ven by arti­fi­cial intel­li­gence (AI), the poten­tial for trans­for­ma­tive change is bound­less. AI holds immense poten­tial to address some of the world’s most com­plex chal­lenges when har­nessed equi­tably and respon­si­bly.  We are excit­ed to announce that Intel­liSOFT is one of near­ly 50 Grand Chal­lenges grant win­ners announced by the Bill & Melin­da Gates Foun­da­tion to sup­port low- and mid­dle-income coun­tries LMICs  in har­ness­ing AI’s pow­er for good.  This ini­tia­tive, designed to fos­ter inno­va­tion in tack­ling press­ing glob­al health and devel­op­ment chal­lenges, is a sig­nif­i­cant stride towards har­ness­ing tech­nol­o­gy for social impact and strives to bridge the gap in access­ing vital health infor­ma­tion by uti­liz­ing AI tech­nol­o­gy.

Dr. Nel­ly Nya­ga, the Health, Data Sci­ence, Research and Inno­va­tion Lead at Intel­liSOFT, will join a team of glob­al health researchers in har­ness­ing the pow­er of AI  to use  Large Lan­guage Mod­els (LLM) to edu­cate and empow­er Kenyan youth in health, par­tic­u­lar­ly in pre­vent­ing non-com­mu­ni­ca­ble dis­eases (NCDs) like can­cer and dia­betes. By address­ing this chal­lenge, the project not only empow­ers youth but also con­tributes to build­ing an evi­dence-based foun­da­tion for future AI appli­ca­tions that pri­or­i­tize equi­table access. Kenya, a dynam­ic coun­try poised for inno­va­tion, offers a fer­tile ground for launch­ing such ini­tia­tives giv­en its posi­tion as a leader in tech inno­va­tions. By address­ing this chal­lenge, the project will not only empow­er the youth but also con­tribute to build­ing an evi­dence-based foun­da­tion for future AI appli­ca­tions that pri­or­i­tize equi­table access. Kenya, a dynam­ic coun­try poised for inno­va­tion, offers a fer­tile ground for launch­ing such ini­tia­tives giv­en its posi­tion as a leader in tech inno­va­tions. 

Sup­port­ing AI research in low- and mid­dle-income coun­tries (LMICs) ensures AI tech­nol­o­gy that res­onates with local con­texts, includ­ing health, edu­ca­tion, agri­cul­ture, and beyond, and that uplifts the most vul­ner­a­ble pop­u­la­tions. Each of these grants rep­re­sents an oppor­tu­ni­ty to solve or mit­i­gate a real chal­lenge expe­ri­enced by com­mu­ni­ties, researchers and/or gov­ern­ments in low- and mid­dle-income coun­tries. 

To receive fund­ing, Grand Chal­lenges win­ners sub­mit­ted their con­cepts which out­lined their bold idea in response to the Cat­alyz­ing Equi­table Arti­fi­cial Intel­li­gence (AI) Use request for pro­pos­als. This project was select­ed from more than 1,300 pro­pos­als sub­mit­ted from around the world. Through this grant, Intel­liSOFT  intends to dri­ve equi­table access to AI solu­tions that cater to the spe­cif­ic needs of low- and mid­dle-income coun­tries (LMICs), there­by empow­er­ing com­mu­ni­ties and enhanc­ing health­care deci­sion-mak­ing process­es.

About Grand Chal­lenges 

Grand Chal­lenges stem from the idea from over a cen­tu­ry ago that crowd­sourc­ing a defined set of unsolved prob­lems can spark inno­va­tion and accel­er­ate progress. The Bill & Melin­da Gates Foun­da­tion and its Grand Chal­lenges fund­ing part­ners use Chal­lenges – launched in 2003 as open requests for grant pro­pos­als – to focus atten­tion and effort on solv­ing press­ing glob­al health and devel­op­ment prob­lems for those most in need. Togeth­er they have award­ed over 3600 grants engag­ing a diverse pool of prob­lem solvers in over 100 coun­tries and fos­ter­ing a glob­al inno­va­tion ecosys­tem where it will have the most impact. The foun­da­tion and its Grand Chal­lenges part­ners will con­tin­ue to launch RFPs to sup­port inno­va­tors from around the world in tack­ling the hard­est, most urgent, Grand Chal­lenges. To learn more, vis­it grandchallenges.org.