A groundbreaking initiative led by Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein and Brazil’s Fundação de Medicina Tropical, supported by IDB Invest and financed by the government of Spain, developed an AI-based diagnostic model for cutaneous leishmaniasis. The system works entirely offline, a vital feature for remote areas of the Amazon.

Weather and Health Nexus

Natural disasters intensify the spread of vector-borne and zoonotic diseases. Environmental conditions drive most tropical diseases, including Cutaneous Leishmaniasis.

Cutaneous leishmaniasis, a parasitic skin infection transmitted by the bite of a sandfly, ranks as the seventh most significant tropical disease, according to the World Health Organization. A total of 89 countries recognize it as a public health threat, 19 of them in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Long distances, limited infrastructure, and a shortage of trained professionals often delay or prevent accurate diagnosis. Early diagnosis can enhance health outcomes for effective treatment; this is where artificial intelligence (AI) becomes a game-changer.

AI as a Lifeline for Remote Health Care

Advances in deep learning and machine learning are transforming medical imaging, enabling AI systems to detect diseases with remarkable precision. AI is particularly well-suited to accelerate and improve the diagnosis of many tropical diseases that manifest through visible skin lesions.

Einstein Hospital Israelita’s AI model for diagnosing cutaneous leishmaniasis has proven to be highly accurate. By training on a balanced set of positive and negative images, the system achieved over 90% sensitivity, outperforming current state-of-the-art approaches. The result: faster, more accurate diagnoses, reduced workload for medical teams, and a critical step toward equitable access to health care in vulnerable regions.

Training session for professionals on using the leish Detect application at the Fundação de Medicina Tropical.

Evidence-Based Innovation for the Amazon

This initiative aligns with Amazonia Forever, launched by the IDB Group in 2023, a regional coordination program that has mobilized $1.2 billion from partners and catalyzed over $5.3 billion in IDB Group financing to promote sustainable and resilient development across the Amazon Basin.  

Amazonia Forever mobilizes financing, fosters strategic knowledge-sharing, and enhances regional cooperation to support adaptation and human well-being. Within this framework, the AI-leishmaniasis project stands as a model of evidence-based innovation, showing how technology and science can address emerging health challenges.

Innovation for Amazon Resilience: A Call to COP30 

As the world focuses on COP 30 in Belém, we gain a unique opportunity to showcase how technological innovations can address health challenges in vulnerable Amazon communities. The IDB Group is hosting over 80 events at COP30 to present solutions that aim to close financing gaps for resilient development through partnerships, innovation, and a focus on measurable impact in Latin America and the Caribbean.  

Investing in innovations that link resilience, public health, and technology means protecting biodiversity, strengthening health systems, and ensuring that no community falls behind.