India has launched its largest pregnancy cohort study involving 12,000 women under the GARBH-INi initiative to develop indigenous, AI-driven solutions for preterm births.
Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh announced the milestone at a programme in New Delhi, highlighting the importance of science-led maternal health interventions.
The initiative integrates clinical epidemiology, biomarkers, and artificial intelligence to create personalised prediction models. Researchers have built a repository of over 1.6 million biospecimens and one million ultrasound images, forming South Asia’s largest pregnancy cohort.
Dr Singh said the programme has already produced outcomes such as AI-based pregnancy dating models tailored for Indian women, microbiome-based predictors of preterm birth, rapid diagnostic tools, and genetic markers for early risk assessment. He emphasised that these indigenous solutions will strengthen India’s fight against preterm births, a leading cause of neonatal mortality.
The Minister released a compendium of key learnings and outcomes, noting the establishment of a national biorepository and the GARBH-INi-DRISHTI data-sharing platform. Partnerships were formalised with private firms for AI-enabled ultrasound reporting and risk stratification systems.
Dr Singh stressed that maternal and child health is central to India’s growth, linking the initiative to the nation’s 2047 vision. He pointed out India’s bioeconomy growth from $10 billion in 2014 to $195 billion today, crediting biotechnology and indigenous innovation.
NITI Aayog member Dr V.K. Paul urged deeper collaborations and effective use of predictive tools developed under GARBH-INi. Dr Singh concluded that the initiative will shape a healthier generation and lay the foundation for a developed India by 2047.
