Using AI in Early Warning System in Pregnancy
Summary
In 2024, Healthy Birth Day (HBD) committed to develop an AI-based fetal movement monitoring data analytics tool within its free Count the Kicks app to send real time insights to expectant mothers based on data from their daily movement monitoring session to decrease the risk of stillbirths. Research surrounding this project will create a roadmap to develop a risk assessment tool that the medical community can use to improve birth outcomes, specifically for those most at risk of stillbirth and other adverse maternal and birth outcomes. They also intend to share their lifesaving maternal health program with communities that serve Black expectant parents as the AI tool is being designed and tested to grow its partnerships across the country and reach 350,000 women across 14 states by 2027. This includes sharing its free kick-counting app, training health workers, hosting community baby showers, and distributing printed educational materials that are proven to save lives.
Approach
Healthy Birth Day, Inc. (HBD) commits to developing an AI-based fetal movement monitoring analytics tool within its free Count the Kicks app, in order to send real-time insights to expectant mothers based on data from their daily movement monitoring session and trend line. Research surrounding this project will create a roadmap to develop a risk assessment tool the medical community can use to improve outcomes, specifically for those most at risk of stillbirth and other adverse maternal and birth outcomes.
Count the Kicks is an early warning system that educates expectant parents to get to know what movement patterns are normal for their baby in the third trimester and empowers them to speak up to their provider if normal changes. Further modernizing the early detection tools to integrate AI will act as a communication tool to use between patient and provider, which can improve front line defense of critical pregnancy issues. The Count the Kicks app averages 11,000 new users every month as users enter the third trimester. An estimated 350,000 pregnant people through August 2027 will be impacted by this commitment.
HBD commits to share its lifesaving maternal health program Count the Kicks in communities impacted by health disparities, with a particular focus on Black expectant parents, as the AI tool is being designed and tested, and to grow its partnerships across the country. This includes sharing its free kick-counting app, training health workers, hosting community events, and distributing printed educational materials that are proven to save lives.
Utilizing new features on the app such as a contraction timer and adding an AI-generated community board where users will be able to receive responses from questions curated from its website, will enhance user experience in a positive way by providing additional autonomy and advocacy for the pregnant person.
Action Plan
Project implementation will be organized by quarters, with specific goals and deliverables for each measure of time. Over three years there will be 12 quarters, and the first quarter will focus on seeking additional funding for AI integration and research, as well as gaining new potential partners to the project.
Q1, finalize our prospect funding list; which we will then aggressively execute in Q2.
Q2, launch full implementation of the AI project with high priority on test and learning cycles of whether AI can accurately predict when a Count the Kicks app user should go in for evaluation related to a change in her baby’s movements.
HBD will spend this early time building relationships within the communities it’s serving, and developing new partnerships within the CGI community; learning from partners and refining the AI project based on feedback.
The development team will roll out the non-research portion of the AI project.
Q2-Q5, ongoing program implementation
Q6, complete the test and learn phase. Decisions will be made as to the organization’s comfortability, based on research findings, of rolling out permanent AI triggers to alert moms if something is off.
Full implementation of the AI project begins to take place in Q2, in the test and learn phase will be complete by Q6, and Q7-Q12 involves the rollout, in whatever form it takes, of the additional AI features to expectant parents across the U.S. and app users in 140 countries. HBD will coordinate media pitches at the onset of the rollout and when moms and babies’ lives are saved in Black Communities due to the new AI features.
All quarters include the execution of deliverables related to funding contracts in place with health departments and MCO funders across the country that will reach expectant parents, including digital and social media educational ads, health worker trainings, additional language translations, community baby showers and distribution of our printed educational materials.
Background
Every year in the U.S., more than 1,000 women die due to childbirth complications, and approximately 21,745 babies are born still, which is the loss of a baby at 20 weeks or greater during pregnancy. One out of every 175 pregnancies in the U.S. ends in stillbirth. But there are significant disparities behind these numbers. For Black pregnancies, one out of every 101 pregnancies ends in stillbirth. These families are more likely to lose a baby to stillbirth than their white counterparts. This occurs against the backdrop of many obstacles to better pregnancy outcomes that black and brown communities face. More broadly, 40% of Black women report mistreatment during pregnancy and the CDC reports that providers listen to and believe patients as the best way to improve care (CDC, 2023) .
Stillbirth and maternal mortality data show some of the most common causes of maternal and fetal deaths stem from conditions developing in utero like a placental abruption or a maternal-fetal hemorrhage – and the very first warning sign comes from the baby when their movements change. Stillbirth is also one of the most understudied and underfunded maternal health issues. Currently, there is specifically not enough research on “alarm limits” – how much deviation from normal should be enough to send an expectant mother in for further evaluation and there has yet to be a standardized protocol regarding fetal movement monitoring during pregnancy in the U.S.
Progress Update
Partnership Opportunities
Healthy Birth Day, Inc. seeks implementing partners with lived experiences and topic expertise related to maternal health barriers within Black communities. The organization seeks funding partners aligned in its mission to improve birth outcomes among Black expectant parents, which could include health departments, managed care organizations, hospital systems and individual, corporate and foundation donors.
Additionally, it seeks maternal health workers, expectant parents, health systems, community organizations, influencers and researchers to connect with to teach and learn prevention strategies and break down systemic reproductive healthcare barriers and biases. Capacity is needed to develop the AI tool and subsequent research. Together – there will be a shared story to tell of working together and using AI to save the lives of moms and babies in this important population that is facing the worst maternal health outcomes in the U.S., The Association for Maternal Child Health Programs (AMCHP) , the leading maternal public health association, named Count the Kicks a Best Practice in 2021. The proven prevention program helped lower Iowa’s stillbirth rate by nearly 32 percent in the first decade, while the rest of the country remained relatively stagnant. Healthy Birth Day, Inc. (HBD) is the leading stillbirth prevention organization in the US with results published in multiple medical journals. HBD aims to support and learn from implementation partners, community leaders, expectant parents and funders. The stillbirth prevention program Count the Kicks has been featured on Good Morning America, ProPublica, Sunday Night Football on NBC, The Washington Post, USA Today, and hundreds of media outlets — reaching more than 400 million people across the globe. HBD has a communications team with historical media contacts and expertise ready to support and shine a light on this important commitment and partners.