Up to USD $3 million is available to support projects that enable locally led evaluations of AI-enabled clinical decision support tools (CDSTs) for primary and community health care in Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia and Southeast Asia.

A major new funding opportunity has been launched under the Evidence for AI in Health (EVAH) initiative, a partnership backed by the Wellcome Trust, the Gates Foundation and the Novo Nordisk Foundation, and delivered with the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) and the African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC). The programme aims to generate robust, locally led evidence on the use of AI‑enabled clinical decision support tools (CDSTs) in primary and community health care settings across Sub‑Saharan Africa (SSA), South Asia and Southeast Asia.

EVAH focuses on AI‑enabled tools that support cross‑cutting primary health care functions such as triage, diagnosis and referral. Projects must demonstrate integration within existing national health systems and illustrate potential for horizontal scaling across geographical settings, disease areas or health worker cadres. Evaluations may draw on a range of real‑world evidence methodologies, including randomised evaluations, Health Technology Assessments and quasi‑experimental designs, and are expected to assess workflow integration, efficiency, safety, cost‑effectiveness, equity, usability, trust and health outcomes.

While open to a wide range of PHC contexts, the call particularly welcomes evaluations that strengthen service integration across levels of care, consider the role of health commodities, assess system‑level interoperability, explore multimodal applications, target underserved populations, or address high‑burden conditions. Proposals involving strong collaborations between technologists, researchers, implementers and local health authorities are encouraged.

Two funding pathways are available. Pathway A supports early‑deployment evaluations with awards of up to USD $1 million for 3-12 months. Pathway B funds large‑scale impact evaluations with awards of up to USD $3 million over 12-24 months. At least 80% of all funding must be allocated to entities based in eligible low‑ and middle‑income countries across SSA, South Asia or Southeast Asia.

Applications are invited from a wide range of institutions, including non‑profits, companies, academic institutions and government agencies. Proposals must be led by institutions based in eligible low- and middle-income countries within SSA, South Asia and Southeast Asia.