Qure.ai secures major global health grant to build AI-powered point-of-care ultrasound

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In an effort to advance health equity and reach the people that need help most, global digital health innovator Qure.ai has received a grant from the Gates Foundation.

The multimillion-dollar grant will allow Mumbai-based startup Qure.ai to develop a large open-source multi-modal database to further advance future prevention and identification innovations.

It will support WHO lung-health diagnostic pathways plus augment non-identifiable clinical history, medical images (Chest X-Ray, Thoracic Ultrasound, High Resolution CT), cough/lung recordings, and laboratory or biological markers to enable researchers and innovators around the world to develop, validate, and refine new AI models for the good of all.

This grant will also allow Qure.ai to develop artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled point-of-care ultrasound algorithms as a ‘tool’ for the early detection of TB and pneumonia, two of the world’s deadliest infectious diseases in under-resourced regions. Both are curable if caught early yet TB deaths are approximately 1.23 million annually, pneumonia 2 million each year, 700,000 of which are children under five. 

“This grant will allow us to build on the years of continuous innovation we have spearheaded in public health and our commitment to pushing the boundaries of what AI can do for global health. It brings together pneumonia, tuberculosis, and broader lung health priorities, with a focus on children in low and middle-income countries. A child dies of pneumonia every 43 seconds which is an unacceptable and an avoidable loss. It underscores the urgent need for better diagnostics and equitable access to care,” said Dr Justy Antony Chiramal, Project Lead and Clinical Director, Global Health Innovation at Qure.ai.