Qure.ai Wins Gates Foundation Grant to Develop AI Point-of-Care Ultrasound for TB and Pneumonia Detection

Original from: MachineMaker

Qure.ai, a global digital health company focused on AI-led medical diagnostics, has received a multi-million-dollar grant from the Gates Foundation to support the development of AI-enabled point-of-care ultrasound and create an open-source multi-modal health database aimed at improving lung disease detection in underserved regions.

The grant is intended to strengthen health equity by enabling earlier diagnosis and better access to quality screening tools for communities with limited medical infrastructure. Qure.ai said the funding will be used to build a large, open-source dataset that combines multiple clinical inputs to support new research and innovation in respiratory diagnostics. The database will include non-identifiable clinical history along with medical imaging such as Chest X-rays, thoracic ultrasound scans, and high-resolution CT, in addition to cough and lung recordings, and relevant laboratory or biological markers.

The initiative will align with WHO lung-health diagnostic pathways, helping researchers and developers worldwide build, validate, and improve AI models that can support early identification and prevention of disease.

A key focus of the grant is the development of AI-powered point-of-care ultrasound algorithms designed for early detection of tuberculosis (TB) and pneumonia, both of which remain major causes of death in low-resource settings despite being treatable when diagnosed early. Qure.ai noted that TB accounts for around 1.23 million deaths annually, while pneumonia causes approximately 2 million deaths each year, including nearly 700,000 children under five.

“In our effort to reach the unreachable, we have spent the last decade deploying AI-enabled X-ray solutions across some of the most remote parts of the world—from sub-Saharan Africa to rural Southeast Asia—and helping accelerate TB detection,” said Prashant Warier, Founder and CEO, Qure.ai. “This work has helped reduce diagnosis timelines from around 14 days to 1–2 days, even in settings without a clinician present. With support from the Gates Foundation, we are now looking to build on this foundation and extend the reach of AI-led diagnostics to many more communities.”

Dr Shibu Vijayan, Chief Medical Officer – Global Health at Qure.ai, said the grant supports a broader mission of bringing quality diagnostic capability closer to the point of care. “Digital health and AI can help close major gaps in access to diagnostics. Our goal is to make reliable screening tools available to every clinic, community health worker, and child—regardless of geography,” he said.

Dr Justy Antony Chiramal, Project Lead and Clinical Director, Global Health Innovation at Qure.ai, said the program brings together critical lung health priorities with a particular emphasis on paediatric outcomes in low- and middle-income countries. “A child dies of pneumonia every 43 seconds. These losses are preventable, but only if detection and access to treatment improve. This initiative reinforces the need to strengthen diagnostics and ensure care reaches those who need it most,” she said.

Qure.ai stated that it currently supports detection and disease management programs across 105+ countries and more than 4,800 sites, helping healthcare providers identify and manage conditions including TB, lung cancer, and neurocritical findings such as stroke. The company develops AI-based solutions for early diagnosis and care management across infectious diseases, neurology, and oncology, supporting clinicians and enabling advancements in the pharmaceutical and medical device sectors. Qure.ai operates globally with offices in New York, London, Dubai, and Mumbai, and has been recognised as a TIME100 Most Influential Company 2025.

Source: Qure.ai Wins Gates Foundation Grant to Develop AI Point-of-Care Ultrasound for TB and Pneumonia Detection