It was an honour to serve as a panellist at the Advancing Maternal Health Through AI-Enabled Medical Devices and Software Panel and Roundtable, hosted by Philips and the Business Council for International Understanding on the sidelines of the WHO 79th World Health Assembly in Geneva, an evening that brought together senior clinical, policy and industry leaders around the most consequential implementation challenge in maternal health, extending skilled diagnostic care to the women who need it most, in the settings where the burden of preventable death remains highest.

Convened by Dr. Carla Goulart Peron, Chief Medical Officer at Philips, alongside Dr. Matthew Rielly, Business Leader for Joint Ventures in Access and Obstetrics, Professor Stephen Rulisa of the East Central and Southern Africa College of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, and Professor Marleen Temmerman of Aga Khan University, who contributed her clinical and academic perspective virtually, the discussion centred on AI-enabled point-of-care ultrasound, specifically the SmartSweep application on the Philips Lumify Handheld Ultrasound, which automates image acquisition to support midwives and frontline health workers in identifying gestational age, placenta location and fetal risk parameters without specialist sonography training.

The WHO recommends every pregnant woman receive at least one ultrasound scan before 24 weeks of gestation, a standard that remains out of reach for millions across sub-Saharan Africa, and one that the Wellbeing Foundation Africa has worked to advance through sustained investment in midwife training, community health worker capacity, and increasing frontline access to modern diagnostic tools across Nigeria. The work has shown consistently that when implementation architecture is right, when care pathways are coherent, protocols are co-designed with the workers who deliver them, and deployment is sequenced toward the most underserved communities, technology of this quality produces outcomes that national averages alone will never fully capture.

I look forward to continuing this work with Philips and to the partnerships that will carry it forward.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Toyin Saraki (@toyinsaraki)