Evidence for AI in Health (EVAH) is a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, jointly supported by the Novo Nordisk Foundation and Wellcome Trust, that funds rigorous evaluations of AI-enabled clinical decision support tools in primary and community health care settings across Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and Southeast Asia.

Delivered in partnership with J-PAL and the African Population and Health Research Center, the initiative offers two funding pathways: Pathway A provides up to $1 million for early-deployment evaluation of AI tools focusing on usability, workflow integration, and safety, while Pathway B provides up to $3 million for rigorous impact evaluations of tools ready for deployment at scale.

Proposals for the Spring 2026 RFP are due April 1, 2026.

Evidence for AI in Health (EVAH) RFP | The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab Latin America and the Caribbean Middle East and North Africa Crime, Violence, and Conflict Environment, Energy, and Climate Change Political Economy and Governance Pathways and Case Studies All Types Blog Case study Evaluation Event Initiative Initiative projects and documents Job J-PAL Updates Landing page Basic page Person Policy insight Policy insight sector page Research resource Pathways and Case Studies The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) is a global research center working to reduce poverty by ensuring that policy is informed by scientific evidence.

Anchored by a network of more than 1,100 researchers at universities around the world, J-PAL conducts randomized impact evaluations to answer critical questions in the fight against poverty. The Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) is a global research center working to reduce poverty by ensuring that policy is informed by scientific evidence.

Anchored by a network of more than 1,100 researchers at universities around the world, J-PAL conducts randomized impact evaluations to answer critical questions in the fight against poverty. Our affiliated professors are based at over 130 universities and conduct randomized evaluations around the world to design, evaluate, and improve programs and policies aimed at reducing poverty.

They set their own research agendas, raise funds to support their evaluations, and work with J-PAL staff on research, policy outreach, and training. Our Board of Directors, which is composed of J-PAL affiliated professors and senior management, provides overall strategic guidance to J-PAL, our sector programs, and regional offices.

Our research, policy, and training work is fundamentally better when it is informed by a broad range of perspectives. J-PAL initiatives concentrate funding and other resources around priority topics for which rigorous policy-relevant research is urgently needed.

We host events around the world and online to share results and policy lessons from randomized evaluations, to build new partnerships between researchers and practitioners, and to train organizations on how to design and conduct randomized evaluations, and use evidence from impact evaluations. News, ideas, and analysis from J-PAL staff and affiliated professors.

Browse news articles about J-PAL and our affiliated professors, read our press releases and monthly global and research newsletters, and connect with us for media inquiries. Based at leading universities around the world, our experts are economists who use randomized evaluations to answer critical questions in the fight against poverty.

Connect with us for all media inquiries and we'll help you find the right person to shed insight on your story. J-PAL is based at MIT in Cambridge, MA and has seven regional offices at leading universities in Africa, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, Middle East and North Africa, North America, South Asia, and Southeast Asia.

J-PAL is based at MIT in Cambridge, MA and has seven regional offices at leading universities in Africa, Europe, Latin America and the Caribbean, Middle East and North Africa, North America, South Asia, and Southeast Asia. Our global office is based at the Department of Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It serves as the head office for our network of seven independent regional offices.

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Led by affiliated professors, J-PAL sectors guide our research and policy work by conducting literature reviews; by managing research initiatives that promote the rigorous evaluation of innovative interventions by affiliates; and by summarizing findings and lessons from randomized evaluations and producing cost-effectiveness analyses to help inform relevant policy debates.

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Evidence for AI in Health (EVAH) initiative Evidence for AI in Health (EVAH) RFP The Evidence for AI in Health (EVAH) initiative is supported by the Wellcome Trust , Gates Foundation , and Novo Nordisk Foundation , and delivered in partnership with the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) and the African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC).

EVAH’s first request for proposals (RFP) is now open , supporting locally-led evaluations of AI-enabled clinical decision support tools (CDSTs) that are ready for real-world use and designed to assist frontline workers with clinical tasks—such as triage, diagnosis, or referral—within primary and community health care settings in Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and Southeast Asia.

The Evidence for AI in Health (EVAH) initiative is currently accepting proposals for its Spring RFP. Below are the key dates: RFP opens: February 20, 2026 RFP questions accepted: All questions must be submitted to [email protected] by March 6, 2026 . Responses will be posted as an FAQ on March 13.

Proposals due: April 1, 2026 Anticipated notification date: June 2026 Note: This is when we estimate that applicants will first be notified whether their proposal is advancing with a funder (either Wellcome Trust, Gates Foundation, or Novo Nordisk Foundation) for further due diligence. Final funding decisions and associated timeline to award remain subject to each funder’s internal due diligence processes.

Researchers may apply for one of the following funding pathways: Pathway A: supports real-world evaluation of AI-enabled CDSTs that are early in deployment. The pathway focuses on how the tools perform in practice, including usability, workflow integration, adoption, and safety, and supports research that can inform future impact evaluations.

(Up to USD $1,000,000) Pathway B : supports rigorous impact evaluations of AI-enabled CDSTs that are ready to be deployed at scale. This pathway focuses on measuring the effects of these tools on health outcomes and system performance at scale.

(Up to USD $3,000,000) This call is intended for organizations or consortia that have access to an AI-enabled CDST already deployed or ready for deployment in primary health care settings, and the capacity to conduct—or partner with institutions that can conduct—rigorous evaluations.

Applicants may include nonprofit organizations, for-profit companies, international organizations, government agencies, academic institutions, or collaborations among these actors.

Proposals should be led by institutions based in the regions of focus and designed to generate decision-relevant evidence for Ministries of Health, implementers, and funders on how AI-enabled CDSTs can be responsibly integrated into primary health care systems and, where appropriate, inform future scale-up decisions. Please refer to the RFP overview for additional details on eligibility and priorities.

For EVAH RFPs, please follow the directions listed below: When you are ready to apply, please refer to these instructions to create your team’s profile on Wizehive, our application portal. Please note that we are adapting WizeHive’s “Organization Profile” feature to serve as a “Proposal Team Profile. ” As such, each team profile corresponds to a single proposal.

Teams will now be able to collaborate on their proposal in WizeHive. Submit your proposal by April 1, 2026 at 10:00am Eastern Daylight Time (4:00pm Central Africa Time; 7:30pm Indian Standard Time). Please see the application guidelines at the bottom of this page for a preview of application questions and required materials.

The application guidelines include a checklist of required materials and guidance on what to address within each narrative prompt of the application. We recommend reading the Application Guidelines document in detail before answering the proposal questions in WizeHive .

Questions on RFP priorities, application and review processes, eligibility, and general inquiries must be submitted to [email protected] by March 6 , and responses will be published on this page as a public FAQ on March 13. Technical support for WizeHive, the application platform, will be provided throughout the RFP process. Please see the RFP Overview below for more information.

Below, please find (1) an RFP Overview; (2) Application Guidelines, which includes a preview of the application questions you will complete on the WizeHive portal; and (3) budget template. Please use the budget template to structure your proposal budget. All application materials should be completed in or uploaded to our online portal, WizeHive —only applications submitted there can be considered.

Request for Proposals Overview EVAH Application Guidelines