A new study by Emagine Solutions Technology suggests that pregnancy apps lack key features to serve modern maternal health needs. Emagine Solutions Technology provides a new level of care for pregnant women by combining handheld ultrasound and remote patient monitoring software to improve maternal health outcomes. The platform was developed by Courtney Williams, who in 2021 won a second prize award for Pharrell Williams’ Black Ambition Initiative. The investment firm Black Ambition, founded by Pharrell in 2020, is dedicated to supporting Black and Latinx business owners. Williams told AfroTech about her complications following childbirth during the
DigitalHealth.London has launched their Leap program dedicated to championing inclusivity and supporting founders from diverse backgrounds in digital health. Digital Health uses information and communications technologies in medicine and other health progressions to manage illnesses and health risks. According to a report from The Treasury Committee in 2021, less than 2% of all venture capital funding went to Black and ethnic minority-led businesses. The DigitalHealth.London aims to sustain and expand an active digital health market in London by helping to overcome challenges that hold innovators back. Therefore, the program is open to founders from
Orka, a Chicago-based health tech firm, is redefining the hearing aid industry with its innovative Orka hearing aid. Founded in 2018 by Ben Sun, Chauncey Lu, Linkai Li, and Xinke Liu, Orka aims not only to enhance hearing but also to make hearing aids as user-friendly and desirable as AirPods. Birthed from personal experience During a family visit to China in 2017, Ben Sun, CEO, observed his grandmother struggling with her hearing. He told Forbes that after spending $1000 on hearing aids for her, she stopped using them after a
Twin Health has secured $50 million in funding for its AI-driven personalized healthcare tech that aims to prevent and reverse chronic health diseases like diabetes. Temasek led the Series D funding round with the participation of existing investors ICONIQ Growth, Sofina, Peak XV, and Helena. Twin Health was co-founded in 2018 by Jahangir Mohammed (CEO), also the founder of Jasper and Kineto Wireless, and Terry Poon (CTO). A whole-body digital twin Central to Twin Health’s mission is the Whole Body Digital Twin™ – an innovative, AI-driven healthcare platform that composes
A Black birthing review app, Irth, is making its way into hospitals to improve Black families’ experiences. The Irth App Irth is a mobile app that collects and shares healthcare reviews from parents of color. The name comes from the word birth, with the ‘b’ dropped for bias. The app helps Black and brown women and birthing people have a safer and more empowered pregnancy experience by allowing users to see how other parents of color experience care from a doctor or at a hospital. The app enables Black birthing
Some of the most high-profile AI chatbots generate responses that perpetuate false or debunked medical information about Black people, a new study has found. While large language models (LLMs) are being integrated into healthcare systems, these models may advance harmful, inaccurate race-based medicine. Perpetuating debunked race myths A study by some Stanford School of Medicine doctors assessed whether four AI chatbots responded with race-based medicine or misconceptions around race. They looked at OpenAI’s ChatGPT, OpenAI’s GPT-4, Google’s Bard, and Anthropic’s Claude. All four models used debunked race-based information when asked
UK-based bladder health startup Jude has closed a $4.24 million seed round to expand into the U.S. Bladder Health: Jude Jude is a healthcare and wellness brand with a mission to bring bladder care to the forefront. 2.3 billion globally suffer from bladder issues, whether overactive bladder, leaving or incontinence and Jude is on a mission to help change that. Jude’s initial focus is on women’s health, as founder Peony Li said she wants to establish the business as a category leader in a space that’s been overlooked and hasn’t
Walgreens Boots Alliance has announced the departure of its CEO, Rosalind Brewer. According to Bloomberg, Brewer was the sole remaining Black female CEO of an S&P 500 company; the last Black woman to lead an S&P 500 company was Ursula Burns, who left Xerox in 2016. Like many retailers, Walgreens faced challenges this year as the demand for COVID-19 testing and vaccines declined, and retail sales experienced a slowdown. Brewer’s departure is part of the company’s transition into a healthcare company instead of a drugstore. According to CNBC, shares of
Ariana McGee founded Navigate Maternity, a remote monitoring platform facilitating equitable prenatal and postpartum care for pregnant women. Black Women and Pregnancy In 2017, over 1,205 women died during and after children, with the U.S. having the highest perinatal mortality rate of any developed country. The United States is also known to be the most dangerous and expensive high-income country for childbirth, especially for Black and Indigenous women. Black women face a nine times higher risk of maternal death than their white counterparts, regardless of wealth. McGee nearly lost her
Empowering Motherhood: The Black-Owned App Revolutionizes Pre And Post-Natal Care Through Technology
The Aster app was created to help women keep track of their pregnancy, communicate with a care team on the app and book appointments and remote monitoring. Founder of Aster FiFi Kara created the app after witnessing her family’s distress as her nephew was brought into the world. “After an emergency CAT 1 C-Section delivery, he required over seven minutes of resuscitation before he took his very first breath,” she wrote on LinkedIn. “The fact that both my nephew and sister are now thriving feels like a miracle, yet this narrative is sadly
