Audere

As a global leader in AI-driven healthcare, we were honored to be featured on Al Jazeera at the Paris #AIActionSummit. Now more than ever, AI presents an unprecedented opportunity to supplement human resource for health (HRH) needs in an era of strained health budgets. 📺 Watch the full clip to see how we are doing this with our partners in Southern Africa: http://bit.ly/40UQMJJ Great interview by our Product Manager Natalie M. 👏🏽 Al Jazeera Media Network | Paris Peace Forum | Dr Ntombifikile Nokwethemba Mtshali | Shout-It-Now | Shawn Malone | Population Services International | Alastair van Heerden | Wits Health Consortium | Maaya Sundaram | Primrose Matambanadzo | Yogan Pillay | Indlela Project HE2RO | CHAPS - Centre for HIV/AIDS Prevention Studies

Bridging Healthcare Gaps with Digital Innovation Last week at HIMSS Global Health Conference & Exhibition, Dr. Gina Itzikowitz, MD, AI Clinical Implementation at Audere, joined a panel discussion on "How International Markets Are Tackling Digital Innovation and Global Health Challenges." She shared insights on how digital health tools can expand access to care—especially in underserved communities—while emphasising the need for locally tailored adoption strategies. 💡A few key takeaways: ➡️ AI is transforming healthcare access – To ensure equity, AI models must be trained on diverse, locally sourced datasets to reduce bias and improve accuracy for specific populations. ➡️ Communication is critical – Digital health solutions must account for local languages, slang, and cultural nuances to build trust and engagement.  Public-private partnerships drive impact – Collaboration between governments, startups, and healthcare providers is essential for sustainable progress. ➡️ Scalability & sustainability matter – Digital solutions should be designed for long-term success, not just short-term pilots. A great example of scalable digital health innovation is Audere’s HealthPulse platform - an AI-driven tool that: ➡️ Digitizes rapid diagnostic testing for greater accuracy and accessibility.  Uses AI-powered image analysis to enhance test interpretation. ➡️ Supports real-time disease surveillance to inform public health strategies. ➡️ Functions in low-resource settings, making digital health more inclusive. As digital health continues to evolve, the key to success lies in localisation, collaboration, and long-term impact 💪🏽 Charles Aunger, Laura Macdonald, Bhanusich Chomanan

On National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, we want to give a special mention to our self-care from anywhere partner, Shout-It-Now who are transforming the landscape of HIV prevention and sexual health services for young girls and women in South Africa 🎗️ What we love about Shout is their forward-thinking approach to HIV Prevention solutions. The work they do is centered in a youth -centric approach that breaks down barriers to healthcare by meeting young people where they are, both literally and figuratively. From vibrant mobile clinics to creative, community-driven outreach, they are redefining how health services are delivered with dignity, respect, and impact. Through our Self-Care From Anywhere pilot program and collaboration, Shout further exemplifies their commitment to harnessing the power of technology, AI, and innovation. Together, we're expanding access to HIV prevention services, empowering youth with the tools and knowledge to take control of their health anytime, anywhere. Selected as one of 50 groundbreaking projects recently featured at the #AIAction Summit in Paris, we couldn’t be prouder to partner with Shout to show the world what’s possible when bold ideas meet cutting-edge technology. To learn more about the Self-Care from anywhere program and the technology that powers it, see this explainer video here: https://lnkd.in/ddzU_XVQ Indlela Project HE2RO Gates Foundation #HIV #AI4Good

International Women’s Day – celebrating the Audere women driving innovation in AI and digital healthcare ✨ Research shows that when more women work in healthcare, communities thrive—health outcomes improve, care becomes more patient-centered, and systems perform better. Every day, the incredible women in our team are breaking barriers, shaping equitable healthcare solutions, and ensuring that technology truly serves those who need it most 🙌🏽 Innovating for sustained access to treatment and prevention across Malaria, HIV, TB, mental health and maternal wellness, these ladies are at the forefront of impact 💪🏽 📽️Watch this short clip to find out what inspires the women of Audere to work in STEM, what motivates them, and which role models helped to shape their journey along the way! Sarah Morris | Shawna Cooper | Rouella Mendonca | Bronte Sihan Li, MS, MLS | Doris K Macharia | Lauren Lavoie | Vari Mureriwa | Angie Tran | Gina Itzikowitz, MD | Sasha Frade, PhD | Hana Lee | Lori Mack | Natalie M. | Sage C.. #InternationalWomensDay #WomeninSTEM #AI4Good

🌍We’ve built a strong network of Africa-based healthcare partnerships in AI. Our success stems from the power of collaboration—where individual strengths come together to create something far greater than the sum of its parts, especially in delivering user-centric, safe, and ethical AI. Partnerships are the heartbeat of our mission to advance equitable healthcare, and over the past two weeks, it was a privilege to connect and co-design with changemakers on the front lines of the HIV epidemic. Despite the challenges in the current HIV landscape, our partners remain steadfast in their commitment to innovating for sustained access to treatment and prevention. Now is the time to collaborate, leverage our expertise, and maximize our impact. 💪🏽 A huge thank you to our partners for the insightful and productive co-design sessions, where we: ✅ Explored the notion of trust, barriers, and needs to extend our Self-Care from Anywhere toolkit—co-designing an AI-powered health companion for HIV prevention and mental health support for 3 different communities ✅ Developed strategies for an upcoming HIV/TB prevention initiative ✅ Built a greater understanding of the driving forces which challenge ARV initiation and designed new retention approaches We’re energized by the progress we’ve made and excited to get to work building, testing, and launching these programs this year! 🙌🏽 Population Services International, The Centre for Sexual Health and HIV/AIDS Research Zimbabwe (CeSHHAR Zimbabwe), CHAPS - Centre for HIV/AIDS Prevention Studies, Indlela Project HE2RO, Shout-It-Now

Huge thank you to the team at CHAPS - Centre for HIV/AIDS Prevention Studies, led by the generous and inspirational Danielle Simpson-Cupido. We are immensely grateful for the data evaluation work they are doing for Audere to confirm that our AI programs are operating accurately, ethically, and stigma-free. They are the embodiment of a partner continually interested in growing and learning and it is always wonderful to get time to spend with the team in person. Thank you to the Audere and CHAPS team members who have made this partnership possible. Rouella Mendonca | Bronte Sihan Li, MS, MLS | Gina Itzikowitz, MD | Dolly Jaravani | Sarah Jones | Hana Lee | Sage C.

✨Two weeks in 🇿🇦South Africa and 🇿🇼Zimbabwe—exhausted, yet energized. Challenged, yet hopeful. Inspired beyond words.✨ Spending time with our incredible partners on the front lines of the HIV epidemic has been a profound reminder of the heart, spirit, and perseverance that drive this work forward. These are people who dedicate their lives to ensuring their communities receive stigma-free, ethical, and accessible care—despite mounting obstacles. 💪🏻 The recent news about USAID canceling 90% of its contracts and PEPFAR’s exit from South Africa has hit hard. The scale of this setback is difficult to overstate. But if there’s one thing I’ve learned from our partners, it’s that their commitment does not waver. They continue, they innovate, they find ways to move forward. And we stand with them. ✊🏻 We met coaches in the Coach mPilo program from Population Services International who call this work their life’s calling—who would do it for free because everyone deserves compassion and support. We spoke with microplanners supporting female sex workers from the The Centre for Sexual Health and HIV/AIDS Research Zimbabwe (CeSHHAR Zimbabwe) program, ensuring they stay HIV/STI-free and empowered, because women deserve dignity. We collaborated with teams at CHAPS - Centre for HIV/AIDS Prevention Studies and Indlela Project HE2RO , who see AI as a force for transformation, amplifying impact where resources are scarce. AI is not a silver bullet, but in moments like this, it offers a crucial promise: efficiency where capacity is stretched, quality where systems are faltering, and accessibility where barriers persist. As one of our partners put it: "This AI is the future of HIV prevention and care. I'm just blown away by what the tool can do—from talking to you to testing support and connection to doctors—what a gift to the community and country." The road ahead is uncertain, but one thing is clear: this work matters. And we will persist. To our partners in South Africa and Zimbabwe—thank you for your leadership, your resilience, and for allowing us to be part of this journey. #AIforGood #HIVPrevention #GlobalHealth #Partnership #Resilience Matchboxology Gates Foundation Maaya Sundaram Rouella Mendonca Natalie M. Shawna Cooper Paul Isabelli Dino Rech Sasha Frade, PhD Primrose Matambanadzo Shawn Malone Alastair van Heerden Caroline Govathson Danielle Simpson-Cupido Dr Ntombifikile Nokwethemba Mtshali

Our product and AI team is in Zimbabwe 🌍 Co-designing a tailored, AI-powered health companion for HIV prevention and mental health support for key populations in partnership with The Centre for Sexual Health and HIV/AIDS Research Zimbabwe (CeSHHAR Zimbabwe), the Ministry of Health, National AIDS Council, peer microplanners, and the community. Understanding healthcare challenges, barriers, needs, attitudes, and motivations from the ground up is key to designing and delivering solutions that truly work - and retain users throughout their health journey. These sessions allow us to immerse in local contexts, gather critical insights, and co-create AI-driven tools that strengthen health systems in meaningful ways. In Zimbabwe, we’re finding many resonant themes we’ve heard in co-design sessions from Kenya to Rwanda to South Africa such as: 🔏Privacy is important - all age groups, genders, professions we’ve met with highlight that any AI tool they use for health information needs to provide clear information on how they keep information safe, and enable anonymity for truly open and personalised experiences without fear of disclosure. 🛜 Internet coverage is lacking, smartphone ownership is lagging, even those with regular access worry about the digital divide they see coming in their communities. 👨⚖️People face stigma at public health facilities, especially when coming in for something sexual health related, and standard “risk assessments” feel very sterile and awkward to answer face to face with clinicians you don’t know - or even worse - you may know. 🔍After facing stigma, people don’t go back. This means they don’t get preventative care or treatment as needed and can cause a lot of stress over time. 🤖Most people have heard of ChatGPT and even tried AI in either google search or on their phone - but it lacks empathy, local context, local language support, and importantly - connection to care when it matters most. So many unique and local insights to Zimbabwe we will share soon after a deep debrief on these sessions that will be flowing into the design and iteration of the product for field testing this summer with real people! We’re so excited to bring the self-care from anywhere model to Zimbabwe to expand the reach of impact, learn together, and expand access to care with our brilliant partners at CESHHAR who are leading this innovative work 🙌🏽 Co-facilitated by Natalie M. and Primrose Matambanadzo and her colleagues Frances M Cowan, Florence Mutevedzi, Sungai Chabata, PhD, Tatenda Kujeke, and Sithembile Musemburi. Thank you to the Gates Foundation for supporting this work and our partner Maaya Sundaram for all the guidance and partnership in bringing this exciting program to life! Sarah Morris | Rouella Mendonca

Last week, our AI data creation and labeling team had a fantastic series of co-design and training workshops with our local partners, CHAPS - Centre for HIV/AIDS Prevention Studies, in Johannesburg— deepening our understanding of on the ground local challenges and needs - as we gear up for four upcoming programs utilising the HealthPulse AI toolkit for HIV prevention. This comes at a time when the HIV prevention response has never been more critical. As funding shifts increasingly prioritise life-saving treatment, we must mobilise, collaborate, and drive local innovation in prevention efforts like never before. 🌍 Today, on World NGO Day, we recognise the pivotal role that the NGO healthcare sector play in driving progress. Their tireless dedication, expertise, and deep-rooted passion are the backbone of healthcare innovation—bridging gaps in care, expanding access, and ensuring no one is left behind. It’s a privilege to work alongside these changemakers as we harness AI-driven solutions to transform healthcare for good 🙌🏽 Gina Itzikowitz, MD | Danielle Simpson-Cupido | Shawna Cooper | Rouella Mendonca | Bronte Sihan Li, MS, MLS | Sage C. | Hana Lee