Microsoft Corp. has announced AI for Health, a new $40 million, five-year programme and part of the AI for Good initiative, that will leverage artificial intelligence (AI) technology to empower researchers and organizations addressing some of the world's toughest challenges in health.

Through AI for Health, Microsoft will work to ensure that nonprofits, academia and research organizations have access to the latest technology, resources and technical experts to help implement AI to accelerate research, generate insights and improve access to care.

The AI for Health initiative will focus on three key areas:

• Quest for discovery. Accelerating medical research to advance prevention, diagnoses and treatment of diseases.
• Global health insights. Increasing our shared understanding of mortality and longevity to protect against global health crises.
• Health equity. Reducing health inequity and improving access to care for underserved populations.

Microsoft's efforts will build on existing collaborations with organizations to help solve pressing issues, like discovering the cause of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), eliminating leprosy, detecting diabetic retinopathy to prevent blindness, and building an ecosystem that allows safe and secure sharing of biomedical data.

Microsoft has announced several grantees, including BRAC, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Intelligent Retinal Imaging Systems (IRIS), Novartis Foundation, PATH, and Seattle Children's Research Institute