VinBrain and Global Fund continue joining forces to tackle Vietnam's tuberculosis challenge through AI in 2024

Hanoi, Vietnam, February 29, 2024 - VinBrain, a pioneering AI HealthTech company within Vingroup conglomerate, has officially signed a commercial agreement with Global Fund to transfer Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology for Tuberculosis (TB) screening and detection as part of Vietnam's National Tuberculosis Prevention Campaign. VinBrain is the sole entity chosen for this agreement with Global Fund in 2024. DrAid™ for TB Screening, a solution developed from VinBrain's innovative and visionary approach to applying advanced technology, aligns with the stringent criteria of the Fund, contributing to community health and progress. 

The accuracy of DrAid™ for TB Screening is up to 95%, reducing the time for disease detection and lowering screening costs. 

The collaboration aims to transform TB detection using advanced AI technology, significantly reducing diagnosis time by analyzing X-ray images. This eliminates the need for extra TB bacterial PCR tests, cutting screening costs from US$50-60 to only US$1. Furthermore, the AI outputs its results in a file or QR code format, reducing environmental impact.  Under this agreement, VinBrain plans to transfer the technology of 32 AI licenses, enables the screening of 1 million suspected TB cases starting in April 2024. This marks the largest scale initiative of its kind to date. 

Notably, this initiative goes beyond existing efforts by enabling outreach to remote areas, overcoming geographical limitations in Vietnam or developing countries. The low cost allows to maximize budget utilization, ensuring that more individuals benefit from this program through advanced technology. This approach effectively addresses geographical barriers, making healthcare accessible to underserved regions by the ability to quickly identify abnormal TB regions in chest X-ray images within 15-20 seconds. Ultimately, this agreement contributes to the elimination of TB in Vietnam by 2035. 

DrAid™ for TB Screening, with a sensitivity and specificity of up to 96%, has long been a reliable diagnostic tool for doctors in Vietnam. Dr. Pham Ngoc Thanh, Head of the Medical Imaging Department at Hai Phong Lung Hospital, said: "The accuracy of reading X-ray images from DrAid™ for TB Screening is up to 95% in about 1,000 suspected TB patients." 

"VinBrain, as one of the few AI HealthTech companies worldwide, has chosen to address TB because it aligns seamlessly with our company's mission since its inception", stated Steven Truong, Founder and CEO of VinBrain.  

Developed entirely by Vietnamese experts using a dataset of 4 million machine learning samples, DrAid™ for TB Screening has been validated and successfully deployed in many hospitals nationwide by reputable independent organizations worldwide such as the Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics and Friends for International Tuberculosis Relief (FIT). 

This campaign represents a significant contribution to public health, particularly in Vietnam, which remains a high-burden country for TB and drug-resistant TB. With over 12,000-15,000 annual deaths and hundreds of thousands infected, primarily within economically disadvantaged communities, the need for effective solutions is paramount. 

In line with VinBrain's mission and collaborative spirit, DrAid™ AI-based TB screening solution is preparing to launch a version dedicated for children with a sensitivity of 90.76% and specificity of 89.45%. Hence, DrAid™ AI for TB Screening surpasses the World Health Organization's (WHO) recommendation for AI-based TB screening, which specifies a sensitivity of ≥ 90% and specificity of ≥ 70%. This demonstrates that DrAid™ AI exceeds the WHO criteria by more than 20 points in specificity. This groundbreaking and pioneering technology supports comprehensive TB diagnosis for children aged 3 to 15 - a group often overlooked in conventional testing methods and prone to misinterpretation of chest X-rays. This advancement marks a significant milestone in the responsible application of AI for societal good, contributing to the advancement of Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) values on a global scale. 

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DrAid™, developed by VinBrain, is an innovative Artificial Intelligence platform that comprehensively supports doctors and healthcare administrators. It is currently deployed across 182 hospitals, aiding over 2,000 doctors and benefitting more than 2 million patients in Vietnam, the United States, and beyond. Within this ecosystem, the DrAid™ for TB Screening is designed for the diagnosis and screening of Tuberculosis (TB). Leveraging advanced AI algorithms, DrAid™ can accurately analyze chest X-ray images to detect TB-related abnormalities with an impressive 90% sensitivity and up to 96% specificity. For further details, please visit https://vinbrain.net/