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Named for the Swahili word meaning “life and well-being,” Uzima is designed to generate the evidence needed to take effective, innovative tools from large-scale demonstration to broader implementation. The program expects to identify an initial package of innovations by early 2027 and announce its first participating country partner in the coming months.

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“By the time you read this paragraph, another baby will be stillborn. Each year, millions of mothers will suffer the grief of their loss—a grief that does not observe borders or spare families,” said Regina E. Dugan, CEO of Wellcome Leap. “Stillbirth is not an inevitable tragedy. We have new tools and the science needed to change outcomes. With our partners at the Gates Foundation and in communities, we can bring these new advances together, demonstrate what is possible at convincing scale, and build a blueprint that can save lives around the world. The question is not whether we can make the next decade one of extraordinary progress in maternal health. The question is whether we will.”

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The Gates Foundation and Wellcome Leap are each contributing $50 million during the program’s first three years to identify and validate promising candidates. The effort will build on technologies developed through Wellcome Leap’s In Utero program and innovations supported by the Maternal, Newborn, Child Nutrition and Health (MNCNH) program at the Gates Foundation. The two organizations are calling on investors, philanthropies, governments, and other partners to join the effort because additional partners and funding will be needed to expand approaches that prove effective. They’re also inviting ministers of health to help shape the program and explore opportunities for their countries to participate.

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Following the initial three-year phase, Uzima will work with participating countries to implement and expand the approaches that prove most effective. While the program will initially focus on settings with the fewest resources and a strong commitment to partnership, its longer-term goal is to generate evidence that can help effective tools reach more health workers, women, and families around the world.

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About Wellcome Leap

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Wellcome Leap is a billion-dollar breakthrough engine for human health—at global scale. Founded by the Wellcome Trust in 2020 as a U.S. nonprofit, Wellcome Leap builds and executes bold, unconventional programs with the urgency required to deliver breakthroughs in years, not decades. Operating at the intersection of life sciences and engineering, Leap programs require best-in-class, multi-disciplinary, global teams assembled from universities, companies, and nonprofits working together to solve problems that they cannot solve alone. To date, Wellcome Leap has committed more than $250 million to ambitious programs aimed at fundamentally improving health outcomes for women worldwide. Explore the portfolio at wellcomeleap.org/womens-health.

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About the Gates Foundation

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Guided by the belief that every life has equal value, the Gates Foundation works to help all people lead healthy, productive lives. In developing countries, we work with partners to create impactful solutions so that people can take charge of their futures and achieve their full potential. In the United States, we aim to ensure that everyone—especially those with the fewest resources—has access to the opportunities needed to succeed in school and life. Based in Seattle, Washington, the foundation is led by CEO Mark Suzman, under the direction of Bill Gates and our governing board.

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