AWS Commits $100 Million To Expand AI Use In Healthcare, Targeting Underserved Markets

Amazon Web Services is committing $100 million over five years in artificial intelligence and cloud computing resources to help healthcare organisations expand services in underserved communities, as technology companies seek to bring AI applications into medical research and clinical care.

The initiative will provide cloud infrastructure, AI tools and agentic services to healthcare nonprofits, government agencies, research institutions and technology companies developing solutions to gaps in healthcare access and research, AWS said in a statement.

The AWS Health Impact Initiative builds on the company’s support for more than 600 healthcare organisations in more than 80 countries since 2021. Applicants can seek support for projects ranging from prototypes to systems ready for large-scale deployment.

The investment comes as healthcare systems face mounting pressure to deliver services with limited resources. The World Health Organisation estimates that the global shortage of health workers will reach 11 million by 2030, with the greatest gaps concentrated in lower-income countries. Africa alone faces a projected shortfall of about 5.85 million health workers by the end of the decade, according to the WHO’s regional estimates.

AI could help providers automate administrative tasks, support diagnostic workflows and analyse medical data, but its ability to improve outcomes will depend on whether healthcare organisations have the infrastructure, reliable data and trained staff required to deploy the technology safely.

“Agents and AI are revolutionising health services, but these transformative technologies too often don’t reach the communities that need them most unless organisations know how to access and deploy them,” said Dr Rowland Illing, chief medical officer and director, Healthcare and Life Sciences at AWS. “The AWS Health Impact Initiative helps organisations that support those communities to build with AI and extends our commitment to democratize AI and cloud-powered health innovations that benefit everyone, everywhere.”

The programme will focus on three areas: expanding access to healthcare services, advancing research and innovation in women’s and children’s health, and improving access to nutritious food.

Under the first category, AWS will support projects involving community healthcare, outpatient services, hospitals, diagnostic testing and research, particularly in rural areas and low- and middle-income countries. The company said 92 per cent of previous healthcare initiative awardees had focused on improving access to or the quality of health services, while 53 per cent had incorporated AI or machine learning.

The second category addresses gaps in medical research involving women and children. AWS cites estimates that only 5 per cent of healthcare research funding addresses women’s health and that up to half of medicines administered to children lack paediatric clinical validation.

The third category will support technology to improve food distribution, forecast food insecurity and expand access to nutritious food. AWS said malnutrition among pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers and adolescent girls had increased by 25 per cent since 2020 in the 12 countries hardest hit by the global food and nutrition crisis.

The initiative includes several healthcare and technology organisations in Kenya, where providers are using digital systems to improve patient management, expand access to services and support research.

AAR Healthcare is deploying a health management information system across rural hospitals to help healthcare workers manage patient care in economically constrained communities.

Cogni-X Kenya is developing MOYO, an AI-powered wellbeing platform offering round-the-clock emotional support, clinical assessments, self-help tools and crisis triage, with referrals to local helplines for professional assistance.

Jacaranda Health uses two-way text messaging to help mothers seek and receive care across sub-Saharan Africa. Proximie, a surgical technology company, is supporting workforce development in East Africa through a digital Community of Practice.

Savannah Informatics operates an electronic medical records platform serving about 350 active users and indirectly affecting more than 271,000 people through patient care, data management and health monitoring systems.

TibERbu Healthnet is extending hospital and pharmacy systems built using Amazon Bedrock across more than 200 facilities that the company says serve 30.4 million Kenyans.

For cloud providers, healthcare represents a potential growth market for AI infrastructure and specialised software services. However, the sector’s adoption of AI also raises questions about data privacy, clinical reliability, regulatory oversight and the costs of maintaining digital systems after initial funding ends.

The WHO reported in 2024 that 2 billion people experienced financial hardships associated with out-of-pocket healthcare spending, including 4.5 billion people who were pushed further into poverty or impoverished by direct medical costs. Technology may help providers use resources more efficiently, but it cannot by itself resolve shortages of medical personnel, medicines or public healthcare funding.

AWS said eligible organisations could apply through their AWS account teams or a public application portal. Successful applicants will receive cloud credits based on estimated project requirements, with awards of up to $10,000 available for organisations seeking initial support.

Credits will generally remain valid for 12 months, with extensions allowing a maximum period of 24 months. Applicants must outline the problem they intend to address, their proposed solution and the number of people expected to benefit. AWS said applications would be reviewed weekly.

The initiative extends AWS’s existing work with organisations using cloud infrastructure and AI in health research, food assistance and data preservation.

US Hunger is using AWS services, including AI tools, to analyse datasets as it coordinates food assistance, healthcare referrals and benefits navigation for families facing hardship.

“Our work starts with community. Technology should never replace human connection—it should strengthen it,” says Ezekiel Brooks, CTO of U.S. Hunger. “Moving our infrastructure to AWS allows us to build a secure, scalable foundation for the work we’re doing in communities. By using AWS serverless analytics, frontier AI, and agentic contact center services, we’re able to manage data responsibly, protect privacy, and deliver services faster and more effectively.”

Eve’s Ark is using AWS infrastructure to preserve women’s health research data and provide researchers with secure access to datasets that might otherwise be lost when laboratories close or grants expire.