San Antonio Startup BobiHealth Uses AI to Make Pregnancy Safer
May 28, 2024 – San Antonio, TX
San Antonio located startup BobiHealth, led by Dave Esra, recently piloted its pregnancy-centric application with machine learning and AI capabilities to make pregnancy safer for women across the globe. As of now, the app has been launched and is freely accessible in the U.S., India, and the Philippines on the Apple Store.
An Initiative to Combat Maternal Mortality
The prime objective of the app is to fight against the devastating rate of preventable causes related to pregnancy and childbirth, which, according to the World Health Organization, led to around 800 women dying every day in 2020. Through the AI-enabled app, vital signs and other pregnancy-related data are collated to predict the risks of detrimental events such as preeclampsia, infection, mental health concerns, blood clots, and hemorrhaging.
Overcoming the High-Risk Pregnancy Challenge
Esra’s venture is partly a result of his personal experience with his wife Sarah Webb-Esra’s high-risk pregnancy. She struggled with multiple complications, including gestational diabetes. The experience turned out to be a crucial stepping stone, motivating Esra to devise a solution leveraging AI for safer pregnancy experiences.
Esra later incorporated BobiHealth in May 2023 with a patented app that collects data and uses machine learning to forecast adverse events. The app has been downloaded nearly 500 times and is all set to contribute positively in the field of maternal health.
Addressing Privacy Concerns with Differential Privacy and Federated Machine Learning
Ensuring user privacy forms the bedrock of BobiHealth’s operations. This is accomplished using federated machine learning systems with differential privacy. Instead of accumulating all data into a central model, “mini-models” are dispatched to each user’s phone for training them on their data, with only the model being transmitted back. Also, the company uses differential privacy, a mathematical protocol protecting individual’s data when used in large datasets.
The Forward Path
In the future, the technology could be of help to caregivers of people with autism. Its potential applications stretch beyond pregnancy. The tech could revolutionize the approach we use to look at multiple disease processes. The data collection capability and proprietary security architecture of BobiHealth provide a promoter cabinet to attract investors.
The journey has just begun for BobiHealth, and it promises a brighter, safer future for pregnant women worldwide. With an aim to reduce maternal death rates and the ongoing growth, this AI-based app developed by BobiHealth is redefining the arena of women healthcare.
