Audere

10/02/2026

The reason Zimbabwe whatsApp based AI health platform, works is simple, we didn't build it alone.

From the beginning, VimbAI was co-designed with:

• Ministry of Health and Child Care teams

• National AIDS Council of Zimbabwe representatives

• Nurses and counsellors

• Community representatives

• Women on the Edge of S*x Work

• Technical partners Audere

Every conversation flow, referral pathway and user experience was shaped by the people who would ultimately use the platform. Because health technologies don't succeed when they are built for communities. They succeed when they are built with communities. Gates Foundation project

10/01/2026

📣 Excited to share this pre-print from the pilot of AIMEE, our AI-powered WhatsApp companion designed to support adolescent girls and young women with HIV prevention and sexual and reproductive health in South Africa.

This paper shares the study methods and takes a deeper look at the technology behind AIMEE, exploring how AI can help extend confidential HIV prevention and SRH support beyond the clinic, meeting young women where they are, while keeping human support, service linkage and safety systems built in.

Of the 9,958 participants who initiated contact with AIMEE, 93.5% enrolled, with more than 80% going on to send at least five messages, offering an early view into engagement with the platform.

🙏🏽 A huge thank you to all our partners, collaborators and research teams who made this work possible. This was very much a collective effort, and these learnings are already helping us refine the model, strengthen what works and build towards reaching more young people at scale. We look forward to sharing the first of several results papers soon, which will explore what we are learning in more depth.

Read the full pre-print here: https://www.auderenow.org/papers-publications/aimeemethodspreprint

09/09/2026

07/21/2026

📢 Only one week to go until International AIDS Society 2026!

This year’s conference will feature more AI content than any previous International AIDS Conference, reflecting how rapidly AI is moving from no longer being a side conversation, but a fundamental part of how the sector is thinking about the future of HIV prevention and care.

To help delegates navigate the AI conversation throughout the week, we have developed the AI and HIV Session Roadmap with AVAC, highlighting key sessions and presentations.

📜 🔗 Take a look here:
https://lnkd.in/dvU8scrJ

🫱🏽‍🫲🏽 If you’re attending, we would love to connect. Reach out to Dino Rech, Sarah Morris and Natalie Maricich, who will be contributing to conversations shaping the global HIV response - sharing insights and learnings from real-world use cases, across panel discussions and poster sessions.

06/24/2026

Improved health outcomes are driven not only by access to information, but by timely awareness, trust, and behaviour change.

Together with our network of partners, we’re exploring how AI can be optimised within health systems to support this outcome. Our self-care work is particularly focused on this space — using implementation science and real-world learning to strengthen social and behaviour change at scale.

Join our CEO, Dr Dino Rech, at tomorrow’s AI plenary at the 2026 Social and Behavior Change Communication Summit 👇🏼

🗓️ 25 June

⌚ 09h30 - 10h45 ( 16h30) local time

🔗 https://sbccsummit.org/en/

05/19/2026

1,000,000 𝐦𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐬. 100,000 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐌𝐄𝐀𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐅𝐔𝐋 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬. 𝐎𝐧𝐞 𝐛𝐢𝐠 𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐧𝐞.

Two years ago, we asked a simple question: could a conversational AI earn the trust of people navigating some of their most personal health decisions?

The answer is yes. And today, we have 1 million messages to prove it.

Across our AI companions Self-Cav, Coach Mpilo, and VimbAI, people are not just showing up. They are staying, returning, and going deeper:

👉🏽 100,000 meaningful conversations (defined as 2+ messages from the user, not just a single response)

👉🏽 58% of users meaningfully engaged with their AI companion

👉🏽 Nearly 30% came back for a second conversation or more, returning for follow-up advice, new questions, and ongoing support

👉🏽 Nearly 10% showed interest in PreP, including LEN - connecting to clinicians to discuss and link to services

👉🏽 Nearly 32,000 users engaging in Zulu, their own language, with slang support built in

This is not accidental. Trust like this is designed. It is built through community-led development, rigorous validation, and an uncompromising focus on safety, privacy, and cultural relevance.

These AI companions are creating safe, private entry points into healthcare across Southern Africa. People are making more informed decisions earlier. They are asking about prevention, testing, and treatment in spaces where they feel no judgement. And the word is spreading: nurses and community health workers across districts are requesting access because they are seeing the difference it makes.

1 million messages is a milestone. What it represents is something bigger: a health system beginning to lean in and meet people where they are 🫶🏽

To our partners, funders, and the extraordinary teams on the ground, including the National Department of Health South Africa, Zimbabwe Ministry of Health and Child Care, Shout-It-Now, Population Services International, Wits Health Consortium, Higher Health SA, CHAPS - Centre for HIV/AIDS Prevention Studies, and The Centre for S*xual Health and HIV/AIDS Research Zimbabwe (CeSHHAR Zimbabwe): thank you for trusting us to reimagine how people access care. This does not happen without your commitment to putting people first 🙏🏽

We are just getting started 🙌🏽

02/17/2026

💸 There’s a growing narrative that building GenAI-powered solutions is now “cheap.” And technically, that’s true. But here’s the catch, while models are cost effective, building healthcare solutions that have real-world impact is not.

Once you move beyond proof-of-concept and into scaled deployment, especially in healthcare, the true costs emerge. Not in base conversations, but in engagement, safety, monitoring, and continuity of care. In other words: in the things that make systems trustworthy.

📜 In this blog article, our COO, Paul Isabelli, shares what our multi-year journey building AI for public health has taught us about where GenAI costs really sit, and why cutting the wrong corners can quietly undermine outcomes.

🔗 Have a read here:

by Paul Isabelli | Audere Team There’s a growing narrative that building GenAI-powered solutions is now “cheap.” And technically, that’s true. But here’s the catch, while models are cost effective, building healthcare solutions that have real-world impact is not. Once you move beyond

01/22/2026

01/16/2026

🌐In 2026, equitable AI will be defined by how well it helps health systems do more with less. As donor funding landscapes continue to shift, the conversation is moving from what’s possible to what’s practical, affordable, and scalable – and success will be measured by how AI solutions respect dignity, protect privacy and solve real problems that people face.

The reflections below are shaped by our work alongside frontline health workers, partners, and communities across malaria, HIV, TB, self-care, and health system strengthening. In a year marked by even tighter resources and higher expectations, these considerations guide not just how we build AI, but how responsibly it shows up in public health systems.

Here’s what’s guiding how we think about AI in 2026 👇🏽