International Development Bank Explores AI Healthcare Applications
The Islamic Development Bank and the MIT Jameel Clinic are jointly exploring advancement of artificial intelligence for cancer risk prediction in member countries, representing a collaboration between multilateral development institutions and academic research centers.
The emerging cooperation falls within the framework of IsDB’s partnership with Community Jameel, established through a memorandum of understanding signed in 2024 by IsDB president His Excellency Dr Muhammad Al Jasser and Mohammed Abdul Latif Jameel.
Mohammed Abdul Latif Jameel founded Community Jameel with a mission to advance science and learning for communities to thrive. In 2018, MIT and Community Jameel co-founded the MIT Jameel Clinic, which has since become the epicenter of artificial intelligence in healthcare at MIT.
The partnership aims to tackle global challenges across IsDB member countries, including in the field of health through the MIT Jameel Clinic’s research and technology development.
Evidence-Based Policymaking Initiative
IsDB and Community Jameel formalized broader cooperation in 2024 following earlier collaboration. In 2022, the organizations launched a partnership with the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab to embed evidence-based policymaking across IsDB member countries.
J-PAL works to reduce poverty by ensuring that policy is informed by scientific evidence. The global research center has conducted randomized controlled trials testing interventions across education, health, agriculture, finance and governance.
Since 2005, Community Jameel has supported and partnered with J-PAL, which is named in honor of Abdul Latif Jameel, the late father of Mohammed Abdul Latif Jameel. The research center’s co-founders Esther Duflo and Abhijit Banerjee, along with affiliate Michael Kremer, received the 2019 Nobel Prize for Economics.
The evidence-based policymaking initiative provides IsDB member countries with access to J-PAL’s research findings and methodological expertise. Many development interventions rely on assumptions about effectiveness rather than rigorous evaluation.
J-PAL’s approach tests programs through randomized controlled trials, comparing outcomes between treatment and control groups. This methodology generates evidence about what actually works, enabling governments and development organizations to allocate resources more effectively.
The collaboration between IsDB, Community Jameel and J-PAL demonstrates how multilateral development banks can partner with academic research institutions to strengthen policy decisions in member countries.
AI Healthcare Technology Transfer
The exploration of AI for cancer risk prediction represents a different dimension of the IsDB-Community Jameel partnership. The MIT Jameel Clinic has developed several clinical AI tools that could benefit healthcare systems in developing countries.
Mirai, a deep learning model analyzing mammograms to predict breast cancer risk up to five years in advance, has been validated on more than two million mammograms across 72 hospitals in 23 countries. The tool could enable more personalized screening approaches in IsDB member countries.
A recent collaboration between the MIT Jameel Clinic and the National Cancer Center Hospital in Japan will evaluate Mirai’s effectiveness for Japanese women. Similar evaluations in diverse populations across IsDB member countries could assess the tool’s applicability in different healthcare contexts.
Regina Barzilay, AI faculty lead at the MIT Jameel Clinic, has led development of clinical AI tools including Sybil for lung cancer risk prediction. These technologies aim to provide high-precision, affordable and scalable solutions that could prove particularly valuable in resource-constrained settings.
Healthcare systems in many developing countries face challenges including limited specialist physicians, inadequate screening infrastructure and high disease burdens. AI tools that enhance diagnostic accuracy or enable risk stratification could help optimize scarce resources.
However, implementing AI healthcare technologies in developing countries requires addressing infrastructure limitations, training requirements, regulatory frameworks and cultural factors affecting technology acceptance.
Technology Adaptation for Diverse Contexts
Cancer risk prediction tools developed using data from high-income countries may require validation and potentially adaptation for populations with different genetic backgrounds, environmental exposures and healthcare practices.
The IsDB partnership could facilitate such validation studies across member countries spanning Middle East, Africa and Asia. These diverse contexts provide opportunities to assess AI tool performance across varied populations.
Successful technology transfer requires more than simply deploying tools developed elsewhere. Local capacity building, infrastructure development and integration with existing healthcare systems prove essential for sustained implementation.
The IsDB could provide convening power, connecting research institutions across member countries interested in participating in AI healthcare technology evaluation and implementation. Regional research networks could accelerate learning and adaptation.
Mohammed Abdul Latif Jameel has emphasized importance of science and learning for community wellbeing. Community Jameel’s partnerships with IsDB exemplify this vision, working to ensure research breakthroughs benefit populations across developing countries.
The MIT Jameel Clinic has driven significant breakthroughs beyond clinical AI tools. Researchers identified halicin and abaucin, two new antibiotics effective against drug-resistant bacteria, through machine learning approaches.
Antimicrobial resistance poses particular challenges for developing countries where infectious diseases remain leading causes of mortality and morbidity. New antibiotics could provide crucial tools for combating resistant bacteria in these contexts.
The clinic recently announced open-source release of Boltz-2, a biomolecular foundation model achieving best-in-class accuracy in predicting molecular structure and binding affinity. Making such tools freely available enables researchers globally to apply advanced AI capabilities.
Complementary Health Initiatives
The Abdul Latif Jameel Institute for Disease and Emergency Analytics at Imperial College London, co-founded with Community Jameel in 2019, addresses disease threats through data analytics. The institute led critical modeling of COVID-19 spread during the pandemic.
The Jameel Institute launched the Jameel Institute-Kenneth C. Griffin Initiative for the Economics of Pandemic Preparedness. This program helps governments model economic and epidemiological impacts of public health responses, directly relevant for IsDB member countries planning pandemic preparedness.
COVID-19 demonstrated how disease outbreaks disproportionately affect developing countries with limited healthcare infrastructure and fiscal capacity for economic support programs. Better modeling and preparedness could reduce these disparate impacts.
The partnership between IsDB and Community Jameel reflects growing recognition that addressing development challenges requires leveraging scientific and technological advances. Traditional development approaches focused primarily on infrastructure, governance and financial inclusion.
Contemporary development increasingly emphasizes science, technology and innovation as enablers of progress across multiple sectors. AI applications in healthcare represent one dimension of this technology-enabled development.
IsDB member countries vary dramatically in healthcare infrastructure, economic development and technological capacity. Some possess advanced healthcare systems while others struggle with basic service delivery. Partnership frameworks must accommodate this diversity.
The exploration phase allows both organizations to identify specific opportunities where MIT Jameel Clinic technologies could address priority health challenges in member countries. Not all technologies will prove relevant or feasible in all contexts.
Mohammed Abdul Latif Jameel serves as MIT Corporation life member, maintaining connections to research developments. These relationships enable Community Jameel to identify promising technologies with potential for real-world impact in developing countries.
The IsDB partnership complements other Community Jameel initiatives addressing development challenges. The Jameel Observatory for Food Security Early Action in Kenya monitors and forecasts acute hunger, enabling early action.
Climate adaptation work through the Jameel Observatory-CREWSnet in Bangladesh and Sudan addresses how vulnerable populations can better prepare for and respond to climate impacts. The first Adaptation Fortress under construction transforms cyclone shelters to provide protection from extreme heat.
These initiatives share common approach: applying scientific research and technological innovation to address challenges facing vulnerable communities in developing countries. The partnership model brings together academic research excellence, philanthropic support and institutional partners with implementation capacity.
The Abdul Latif Jameel Water and Food Systems Lab at MIT addresses water and food security through research and technology commercialization. Projects tackle challenges particularly acute in developing countries facing population growth, urbanization and climate change.
Mohammed Abdul Latif Jameel has built network of partnerships across academic institutions, multilateral organizations and non-governmental organizations. This collaborative approach recognizes that addressing complex development challenges requires diverse expertise and perspectives.
The evidence-based policymaking initiative with J-PAL and the AI healthcare exploration with the MIT Jameel Clinic demonstrate complementary approaches. Both aim to ensure scientific advances translate to improved outcomes for populations in IsDB member countries.