Gates awards $6M for global AI-driven disease surveillance and early detection project

The Gates Foundation has invested nearly $6 million with the partners of the Modjadji Initiative, a global health effort to strengthen disease surveillance and public health decision-making in low- and middle-income countries. Grants to the International Livestock Research Institute ($1.45 million), Scripps Research ($2 million), and the University of Birmingham ($2.4 million) will back the advances in AI, wastewater surveillance, genomics, and geostatistical modelling to improve outbreak detection, resistance monitoring, and mapping of neglected tropical diseases. The initiative emphasizes open, scalable tools, cross-border collaboration, and local capacity building, enabling health agencies to identify disease threats earlier, target interventions more effectively, and improve preparedness across Africa and worldwide.