AWS announces its next Healthcare Accelerator focusing on health equity

Did you know that simply being born in a high-income country versus a low-income country gives a person an 18-year advantage in life expectancy? (Source: WHO estimates)

Reducing health disparities is a complex challenge, but there is also an opportunity to apply modern technology to help address this challenge. Keeping that in mind, Amazon Web Services (AWS) is announcing its next AWS Healthcare Accelerator cohort—with a focus on health equity this time.

The accelerator will support 10 startups with US-based operations through a four-week technical, business, and mentorship program.

Startups focused on one or more of the following areas will be considered:

1. Increasing access to health services

2. Reducing disparities by addressing social determinants of health

3. Using data to promote equitable and inclusive systems of care

Participating startups are eligible for, up to $25,000 per startup in AWS Promotional Credits, Connections to venture capital firms through AWS innovation network, Collaboration opportunities with other AWS healthcare customers and AWS Partners, specialized AWS training and mentoring from domain and technical subject matter experts, and guidance on business development and fundraising from AWS and accelerator program collaborators, and Go-to-market planning.

The accelerator builds on other efforts AWS has launched in this area, including the AWS Health Equity Initiative, a $40 million, three-year global commitment designed to support innovations in this space. Both the Health Equity Initiative and the Healthcare Accelerator are part of AWS for Health, an offering of AWS services and AWS Partner Network solutions designed to help organizations increase the pace of innovation, unlock the potential of health data, and develop more personalized approaches to therapeutic development and care.

The AWS Health Equity Initiative is another opportunity that startups—and other organizations ranging from education institutions to nonprofits to large enterprises—can apply to access AWS computing credits and technology expertise to address this important challenge.

A few projects already funded by the AWS Health Equity Initiative are:

1. Vodafone Foundation’s m-mama program, operating in partnership with Touch Foundation- an emergency rural transport service that uses mobile technology to connect pregnant women and newborns to life-saving care in rural Africa. 

2. Canadian company WelTel's digital health communication platform, which connects patients to their healthcare providers through their mobile phones.

3. US-based Roundtrip equipping healthcare professionals with online and mobile tools that make ordering patient rides simple.