Health · Public Health & Disease · 3 hrs ago
Gates and Wellcome Leap launch $100 million stillbirth prevention initiative
The Gates Foundation and Wellcome Leap announced a $100 million initiative in Berlin to reduce stillbirths worldwide.
Each organization will contribute $50 million during an initial three-year phase, working with the African Uzima Foundation.
The initiative aims to halve nearly 2 million stillbirths a year over the next decade, with almost half occurring in sub-Saharan Africa.
It will test technologies in hospitals and clinics, including AI-enabled ultrasound, labour monitoring sensors and diagnostic tools.
The tools are intended to help health workers spot pregnancy complications earlier, when timely care could prevent some deaths.
More than 40% of stillbirths occur during labour, and 56 countries are projected to miss the WHO target for reducing third-trimester stillbirths by 2030.
The partners plan to prepare an initial package of tools by early 2027, and expect to announce their first country partner in the coming months.
The Gates Foundation and Wellcome Leap have launched a $100 million initiative to reduce global stillbirths.
The initiative aims to halve stillbirth deaths by testing and deploying diagnostic and monitoring technologies in hospitals and health clinics.
Each organization is contributing $50 million for an initial three-year validation phase.
The partners, working with the African Uzima Foundation, plan to develop a scalable blueprint for selected high-burden countries.
They aim to assemble an initial package of tools by early 2027, with a first country partner to be announced in the coming months.
- Who
- The Gates Foundation and Wellcome Leap, together with the African Uzima Foundation.
- What
- A $100 million initiative to test and deploy technologies aimed at halving stillbirth deaths.
- When
- Announced on October 13, 2026; the initial validation phase will last three years.
- Where
- Announced in Berlin; the initiative will work in selected high-burden countries, with the first country partner not yet announced.
- Why
- To help health workers detect pregnancy complications earlier and reduce stillbirths.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
The Gates Foundation and Wellcome Leap announced the initiative in Berlin.
The partners will validate the technologies in high-burden settings.
The initiative aims to assemble its initial package of diagnostic and monitoring tools.
The first official country partner is due to be announced.
- Total funding
- $100 million
- Gates Foundation contribution
- $50 million
- Wellcome Leap contribution
- $50 million
- Validation phase
- Three years
- Global stillbirth toll
- Nearly 2 million a year
- Initial tools package
- Due by early 2027
What people are saying
In most parts of the world, pregnancy care remains in the dark ages, and AI will be transformative not to make clinical decisions, but to help health workers instantly spot who is most at risk
The $100 million is not going to be enough to scale, and we will need many other partners joining us to make this a reality
When external resources decline, our responsibility as government to our people should not also decline
What matters at the end of the day is not how many devices we develop, but how many babies actually go home healthy in the arms of their families
Sources
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