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Nigerian health tech startup, Helium Health, has received a $2.5 million (N3.4 billion) grant from Google.org to deploy clinical AI models into primary maternal healthcare.
It was selected as the only Nigerian organisation among 15 global recipients in the $30 million Google.org Impact Challenge: AI for Government Innovation, which supports organisations partnering with governments to improve public services.
The Nigerian rollout and implementation roadmap for the initiative was formally presented in Lagos during a joint executive briefing with Lagos State Governor, Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu, led by executives from Google and Helium Health.
IN another development, University of Medical Sciences (UNIMED), Ondo State, has urged healthcare professionals in the country to embrace Artificial Intelligence (AI) and digital health innovations as essential tools for improving clinical practice, enhancing patient safety, and strengthening the healthcare delivery system.
This was stated during the institution’s third Faculty of Clinical Sciences Conference, themed “Artificial Intelligence and Digital Health: Reimagining Clinical Medicine in the Digital Era.”
Spanning Lagos, Delta, Kano, and Oyo states, the deployment establishes Lagos State as its primary operational launchpad, aligning with the state’s push to modernise primary healthcare delivery and digital innovation.
Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Helium Health, Dimeji Sofowora, said: “For the past decade, Helium Health has been building the technology and partnerships needed to improve healthcare delivery across Africa. Through our maternal health initiatives, we’ve already reached over 3.5 million women, and Google.org’s support gives us an opportunity to build on that foundation, scale what works, and reach even more women with quality maternal healthcare.
Head of Public Health at Helium Health, Dr Shona Oluwatola, added: “Nigeria accounts for nearly three in every 10 maternal deaths globally. Behind every maternal death is a woman whose family expected her to come home. Our goal is to reach an additional 1.9 million women over three years and contribute to a 30 per cent reduction in maternal mortality. Ultimately, we want to ensure that no woman loses her life simply because she didn’t know she was at risk or couldn’t access the care she needed.”
Global Head of Google.org, Maggie Johnson, said: “AI holds incredible potential to transform public services, but there is often a gap between promise and practice.”
According to UNIMED Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Ebunoluwa Adejuyigbe, technological innovations are transforming healthcare delivery, particularly in disease diagnosis, treatment, and patient monitoring.
Adejuyigbe, who was represented by the Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Administration and Clinical Services, stated that AI, telemedicine, digital health records, and predictive analytics offer unprecedented opportunities to enhance patient safety, expand access to healthcare, and strengthen health systems.
She, however, cautioned that the adoption of the technologies must be accompanied by careful consideration of ethical issues, data privacy, cybersecurity, equity, and the responsible application of AI.
