Cooper/Smith

We are thrilled to announce a new partnership with Google Research taking infectious disease modeling to the next level! Health systems around the world, especially in low-resource settings, are under pressure. Efficient use of health resources has never been more important. Every data-driven insight helps governments predict and plan, respond faster to outbreaks, and ultimately save lives. This collaboration will help: - Enhance predictions of disease spread - Improve estimates of HIV and other infectious diseases - Enable smarter, faster decisions for pandemic readiness We're proud to be working on this frontier research and honored to be supported by Google.org in pushing the boundaries of what is possible in global health. #GlobalHealth #AIforGood #HealthSystems #InfectiousDisease #PublicHealth #DataScience #GoogleResearch #CooperSmith https://lnkd.in/gKdQcTVt

Tyler Smith and Rachel Haggard went to this year's #GDHF. In addition to connecting with friends and long-time colleagues, they came away with these top three takeaways: Take home # 1: Infrastructure - Until we fix the plumbing, AI is a pipe dream Tyler had the opportunity to give a talk on path-to-scale for AI in LMICs.?Spoiler alert, there currently isn’t one. Check out the details from his presentation in the link below. Take home #2:?Global guidelines are a key way forward to handle the rapid development and deployment of AI models in LMICs. Take home #3: There is a strong need to consider local context and languages when developing AI models. Shoutout to Marelize Gorgens Prestidge who highlighted that a systematic review of AI solutions in healthcare which found that adapting these solutions to tribal languages, which often have more tokens than English, is more expensive. This cost disparity limits uptake in non-English-speaking countries. We need to do better and we need to take these costs into account upfront in budgeting for AI implementation. https://lnkd.in/g7pe9SbA

Congratulations to our CEO Hannah Cooper Klein for her nomination to Vice-Chair of the Global Health Council Board. We're thrilled to be a part of this growing community of global health organizations. Congratulations also to Amy Boldosser-Boesch for her role as Board Chair!

Grateful for Wayan Vota’s repost of ways we at Cooper/Smith think #GenAI will revolutionize healthcare in low-and-middle income countries. Looking forward to sharing more updates on our work in this space in the next couple of weeks!

Said it before and I'll say it again, #Malawi is leading the pack on #digitaltransformation in #Africa. All the building blocks are there and it's the place where new tech and data can shine...it just requires vision and *meaningful* cooperation between external funders. https://lnkd.in/d9kTXkJH

So proud of our team and the results coming out of our initial viral load digital results return work. A few teasers from our Malawi work: - Viral Load Results were returned 44%-55% faster than with paper processes - Reduced lab backlog and can save costs of re-conducting VL test (up to $7 million per year in Malawi) - Decreases traffic on clinic days and reduces workload - Unique open rate of 72% - Reduced strain on stressed VL system frees up labs to do workups on CVD, TB, parasites, etc - KPIs & metrics available daily - Lab-test "agnostic": can deploy for all molecular, genetic, microscopy results Come find out how we did it!

"Overall only 15% of the data reported were consistent during the 3-month period. Participants at various levels of the health information system raised concerns about the quality of community-level health data and its limited potential to contribute to planning. We found multiple similarities underlying causes of this poor data quality in the two countries even though one has HSAs paid and integrated into the health system (Malawi) and one used volunteers (Kenya). Both reported unavailability of standard data collection and reporting tools and limited training for CHVs on maternal and child health issues as well as on data entry. This problem was exacerbated by parallel reporting requirements of vertical programmes, resulting in multiple tools and duplication of efforts that was particularly prominent in the Malawian context." No quality without rationalization. Measuring overlap and LOE for data management should be part of any digital transformation strategy, but is lacking in most countries. Wouldn't it be nice if we had efficiency requirements baked into grants and *rewarded* cost-effective infrastructure decisions? ?? https://lnkd.in/eeMw3QKh

Excited to see friends and colleagues at #AIDS2024 in Munich next week. I didn't realize this, but in some low-resource countries roughly *a quarter* of all lab samples drawn for viral load testing are clinically irrelevant by the time the results reach patients and the process has to be repeated. We will present on a gov-lead, low-cost solution in #Malawi that cuts turn-around-time *in half* for patient VL results, saving money on redraws and reaching virally unsuppressed ART clients faster. #PutPeopleFirst!

Tyler Smith and Miyu Niwa went to WHA77 and the 2024 AI for Good Summit. Take a look at their takeaways #AI #GlobalHealth #DPI #SDGs

Cooper/Smith joins in mourning the late Right Honorable Dr. Saulos Klaus Chilima, Vice President of the Republic of Malawi, and the other officials who were lost in the tragic plane crash on Monday, 10 June 2024. We express our deepest condolences to the bereaved families and the nation of Malawi. This profound loss will never be forgotten.