Aurum Institute Ghana announced this week that it is a winner of a Grand Challenges grant – an initiative fostering innovation to solve pressing global health and development problems and funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Nana Kofi Quakyi, MPH will pursue an innovative global health and development research project focused on Catalyzing Equitable Artificial Intelligence (AI) Use, titled AI-powered Decision Support for Antibiotic Prescribing in Ghana.
When harnessed equitably and responsibly, AI has incredible potential to help solve some of the world’s toughest challenges and reduce global inequity. Supporting AI research in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) will help ensure that AI technology is tailored to local health, education, agricultural and other contexts and designed with the needs of the world’s most vulnerable at the center.
The project addresses the urgent public health challenge of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in Ghana. Its goal is to address this problem by creating an unconventional AI-powered clinical decision support tool. This tool will offer personalised recommendations for prescribing antibiotics, considering factors like patient information, treatment environment, antimicrobial resistance patterns, and Ghana's national drug policy. Through refining a sophisticated large language model with data from Ghanaian experts, the tool will provide real-time interactivity to prescribers. It will offer tailored guidance and adaptive suggestions based on the local clinical and policy context.
This innovative approach aligns with Ghana's National Action Plan for Antimicrobial Use and Resistance. This plan emphasises comprehensive strategies that include behavioral changes, like our Clinical Decision Support Tool, to combat AMR. Our technology aims to bridge the gap between knowledge and action, promoting responsible antibiotic prescribing practices in line with the local healthcare situation. Nana Kofi Quakyi became a Programme Manager at Aurum Institute Ghana in 2021. His role involves enhancing access to new technologies, treatments, and diagnostics in Ghana. He also leads efforts to generate evidence regarding their feasibility and acceptability.
Nana Kofi Quakyi’s project is one of nearly 50 Grand Challenges Catalyzing Equitable Artificial Intelligence (AI) Use grants announced by the Gates Foundation to support LMICs in harnessing AI’s power for good and to solve the urgent need for LMIC participation in the co-creation process of this technology as it rapidly evolves. The project’s findings will contribute to building an evidence base for testing AI large language models (LLMs) that can fill wide gaps in access and equitable use of these tools. 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, Nana Kofi Quakyi and other Grand Challenges winners submitted their concepts which outlined their bold idea in response to the Catalyzing Equitable Artificial Intelligence (AI) Use request for proposals. More than 1,300 proposals were submitted from around the world.
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.
About The Aurum Institute
The Aurum Institute is a proudly African organisation working to advance health science and innovation to create a healthier world for future generations. We partner with governments, the private sector and civil society to design and deliver high-quality care and treatment to people in developing communities. https://www.auruminstitute.org/
About The Aurum Institute Ghana
Aurum Institute Ghana is an African Public Benefit Organization whose mission is to improve the health of people and communities living in poverty through innovation in global health research, systems, and delivery. The Aurum Institute Ghana operates in Ghana as a local Non- Governmental Organization (NGO) registered under Companies Code of 1963, Act 179 and licenced by the Social Welfare Department. It is an affiliate of Aurum Institute South Africa which is a not-for-profit company and a leading healthcare organisation. It is rooted in Africa and is dedicated to researching, supporting, and implementing innovative, integrated approaches to global health. In Ghana, it is collaborating with the Ghana Health Service (GHS) in research, programme implementation and capacity building. https://www.auruminstitute.org/what-we-do/aurum-international/aurum-institute-ghana
For more information, contact:
Nana Kofi Quakyi, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., +233 244 501 809
George Amoo Adjei, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., +233 307 007 109
Kanya Ndaki, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., +27 83 298 610
