Gates Foundation and Wellcome Leap Commit $100 Million to Reduce Global Stillbirth Rates
News related to:Gates Foundation · 2 min read
BERLIN, Oct. 12, 2026 /CourierPR/ -- The Gates Foundation and Wellcome Leap have committed $100 million to a new initiative aimed at reducing global stillbirth rates, focusing on sub-Saharan Africa. The program, named Uzima, seeks to demonstrate that stillbirth rates can be cut in half over the next decade in select countries.
Uzima, which means "life and well-being" in Swahili, will identify, validate, and scale promising innovations to help families and health workers recognize risks earlier and respond to complications during pregnancy and childbirth. The program will begin with partners in sub-Saharan Africa, with additional partners and funding expected to join later.
According to the press release, nearly 2 million babies worldwide are stillborn each year, one every 17 seconds. Each loss has real and lasting consequences for women and families. Despite the scale of the challenge, stillbirth prevention remains underfunded and overlooked in maternal and newborn health, with significant gaps in research and innovation around the pregnancy complications that contribute to these losses.
Anita Zaidi, president of the Gender Equality Division at the Gates Foundation, emphasized the importance of the initiative.
The program will explore several categories of innovation, including biomarker-based, imaging-based, and other diagnostic tools that support earlier detection and risk stratification of pregnancy complications such as preeclampsia and gestational diabetes. It will also focus on artificial intelligence-enabled ultrasound and other screening tools that could make risk assessment and detection of complications more accessible in settings with limited resources.
Sensors and monitoring technologies used during labor, decision-support tools enabled with AI, and integrated, personalized support and patient navigation systems for mothers, families, and community health workers are also part of the initiative. These tools are designed to help health workers detect complications sooner and provide actionable data to track progress.
The Gates Foundation and Wellcome Leap are each contributing $50 million during the program’s first three years to identify and validate promising candidates. The effort will build on technologies developed through Wellcome Leap’s In Utero program and innovations supported by the Maternal, Newborn, Child Nutrition and Health (MNCNH) program at the Gates Foundation.
Wellcome Leap was founded in 2020 as a U.S. nonprofit and has committed more than $250 million to ambitious programs aimed at fundamentally improving health outcomes for women worldwide. The program expects to identify an initial package of innovations by early 2027 and announce its first participating country partner in the coming months.
The Gates Foundation, guided by the belief that every life has equal value, works to help all people lead healthy, productive lives. In developing countries, the foundation works with partners to create impactful solutions so that people can take charge of their futures and achieve their full potential.