Nigerian healthtech company Helium Health has secured a $2.5 million grant from Google.org, about N3.4 billion, to bring clinical artificial intelligence into primary maternal healthcare. The funding was announced on November 4 and is one of the largest AI-for-health commitments to a Nigerian company this year.
A Global Challenge With One Nigerian Winner
The grant comes from the Google.org Impact Challenge on AI for Government Innovation, a $30 million programme announced in September. It backs organisations that work with governments to improve public services using AI. Fifteen recipients were selected worldwide, and Helium Health is the only Nigerian one.
More Than Funding
Helium Health will also join a Google.org Accelerator programme. Google will provide pro bono engineers and AI product experts to work with the company’s technical team, including on adapting the tools to local clinical conditions.
The grant also marks a shift for Helium Health. The company built its name digitising hospitals and clinics, and this project moves it toward delivering AI-powered public health services.
Why Maternal Health Is the Target
The numbers explain the focus. A 2023 report by WHO, UNICEF and UNFPA found that Nigeria accounted for 28.7 percent of all maternal deaths worldwide that year, about 75,000 deaths- the highest of any country. Most of these deaths are preventable when risks are caught early, and care is available.
Helium Health’s public health lead, Dr Shona Oluwatola, said the aim is that no woman dies because she did not know she was at risk or could not reach care. Chief executive Dimeji Sofowora said the grant lets the company scale what already works and reach more women.
What Still Needs Answers
Details are still thin. The announcement has not spelt out how the AI tools will work day-to-day in clinics, what data they will use or how results will be measured. Those questions will matter as the programme reaches primary health centres, where staffing, connectivity and data quality are often uneven.
Reaching 1.9 million women in three years is an ambitious target. Whether the tools can cut maternal deaths will depend on how well they work in busy primary care settings, and on whether state governments keep them running once the grant period ends.
For now, Helium Health has the funding, a strong technical partner and the backing of Nigeria’s biggest state government. The next step is turning that into fewer preventable deaths.
