Accelerating innovations to prevent and respond to emerging infectious diseases
Multi-country
March 2023 – present
Background
Infectious diseases pose a growing threat globally, with over 70% of epidemic-prone infectious diseases originating from animals, leading to frequent outbreaks like the COVID-19 pandemic. Recognizing the need for innovative solutions, Project Last Mile has partnered with the USAID to support enterprises in developing technologies to address emerging disease threats. Leveraging Project Last Mile’s subject matter experts, tailored solutions are being developed.
Each selected enterprise will receive personalized support from a Project Last Mile subject matter expert, including technical advice, coaching, and mentoring.
Grant funding may also be available. This initiative aims to strengthen enterprise capabilities to improve the reach, awareness, availability, access, and utilization of innovations focused on preventing emerging health threats.
An online database of enterprises was established to facilitate the call for proposals, resulting in the evaluation of 80 submissions for due diligence. Among these, 12 promising innovations were pinpointed, and from them, two candidates were chosen for further evaluation.
“Through identifying and supporting innovations for emerging infectious disease threats, we are enabling our stakeholders to better prevent future outbreaks by being ready to detect them at early stages and facilitate a rapid response.”
– Dr Rohit Chitale, USAID Emerging Threats Division.
This information originally appeared in the 2023 annual report.
