Helium Health Secures $2.5 Million Google Grant to Tackle Maternal Deaths with AI

The grant comes from Google.org’s $30 million Impact Challenge: AI for Government Innovation, which supports organisations working with governments to use AI to improve public services, including healthcare. Helium Health was the only Nigerian organisation selected among 15 recipients. The funding will finance the deployment of AI-powered clinical decision-support tools within primary maternal healthcare services. The system will combine AI-driven risk detection with electronic medical records and clinical decision-support tools used by healthcare providers.

Helium Health has already reached over 3.5 million women through its maternal health initiatives. With the Google.org funding, it wants to reach another 1.9 million. The company will also receive technical support from Google engineers and AI product experts through a dedicated Google.org Accelerator.

The grant aims to address Nigeria’s high maternal mortality rate, which contributes nearly 10% of global maternal deaths. Helium Health hopes its AI-powered intervention will help identify pregnancy complications earlier and connect women to appropriate care, contributing to a 30% reduction in maternal mortality.