Avyantra: Using machine learning to facilitate early treatment to infants with neonatal sepsis
A cloud-based data analytics platform conducts diagnosis using machine learning.
Avyantra Health is building a platform to help address neonatal sepsis, a blood infection that occurs in infants younger than 90 days old.
According to a recent report by UNICEF, newborns in India are affected by numerous life threatening challenges such as neonatal sepsis. Detection of the condition is critical for positive birth outcomes but the lack of a specific diagnostic test for neonatal sepsis presents a significant challenge to treating infants as quickly as possible.
Traditional methods need to be complemented with techniques deploying deep learning methods to increase the speed and accuracy of treatment (as the first 24 to 48 hours are the most critical in order to prevent infections).
Our team hopes to tackle this alarming mortality rate by tapping into cutting-edge technologies in order to create more equitable healthcare for newborns in India.
Our application uses a cloud-based data analytics platform and conducts diagnosis using machine learning.
Through inputting different neonate data points, the platform generates a predicate score that doctors can use in their diagnosis of neonatal sepsis. These methods are expected to significantly improve accuracy and reduce the time of diagnosis, thereby facilitating early treatment to the babies affected by neonatal sepsis.
Using machine learning and data analytics to power our platform allows us to deploy our solution to different regions of the country in a fast and cost-effective way. Going forward we plan to scale our solution using AI techniques such as deep learning.
ON BEING OPEN SOURCE
An open-source platform provides an opportunity for us to share and learn key insights and experiences with the vast global community of data scientists. These learnings will help us not only to improve our solution but also provide us with space and audience to test, build and deploy a robust solution in a short timeframe.
TEAM & DIVERSITY
The team is comprised of people with experiences ranging from marketing, healthcare, IT, and analytics. The founder is an IT professional with a passion to build healthcare solutions and has undergone clinical immersion for more than 500 hours. The co-founder is a marketing professional who is undergoing her PhD and is committed to using her experience and learnings to healthcare.
Diverse teams bring in various dimensions and perspectives which help us refine and strengthen our processes and solutions. Most importantly, complex healthcare problems such as neonatal sepsis require multiple skills and understanding that can be achieved by working with diverse teams.
WAY AHEAD:
We will use the UNICEF Innovation Fund investment for development, enhancement, testing, and deployment of our solution. We are excited to be a part of UNICEF’s cohort, we believe this collaborative experience will be valuable in a lot of ways; from product development to commercialization. We are confident that this support will enable us to obtain a steady stream of follow-on investment.
About UNICEF Innovation Fund: The Fund has been specifically designed to finance early stage, open-source technology that has the potential to impact children on a global scale. The core motivation of the IF is to fund "clusters" or portfolios of initiatives around emerging technology, like UAVs, Blockchain, Data Science and AI or virtual reality - so that UNICEF can both shape markets and also learn about and guide these technologies to benefit children.
As well as funding the start-up companies, UNICEF’s Innovation Fund will provide product and technology assistance, support with business growth, access to a network of experts and partners. The Fund also actively seeks second-round investment and support for companies it has invested in, as well as the opportunity to scale-up these technologies, when they are successful, in the more than 190 countries and territories where UNICEF operates.
More info: www.unicefinnovationfund.org
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