India’s largest pregnancy cohort study of 12,000 women to develop AI-driven solutions for preterm births: Dr. Jitendra Singh

The Minister was addressing the programme on “Disseminating Learnings and Outcomes of GARBH-INi (Interdisciplinary Group for Advanced Research on Birth Outcomes)”, a Department of Biotechnology (DBT) initiative, at India Habitat Centre, New Delhi. The event was attended by Secretary, Biotechnology, Dr. Rajesh S. Gokhale; Member, NITI Aayog, Dr. V.K. Paul; Executive Director, THSTI, Dr. Ganesan Karthikeyan, along with leading scientists and researchers.

Focusing on the GARBH-INi initiative, the Minister said that India carries a significant share of the global burden of preterm births, making it essential to develop solutions suited to Indian conditions. He said the programme represents a comprehensive, data-driven approach integrating clinical epidemiology, multi-omics biomarkers, and artificial intelligence for personalised predictions.

The Minister said the initiative has successfully enrolled around 12,000 pregnant women, creating one of South Asia’s largest pregnancy cohorts. The programme has generated a vast repository of over 1.6 million well-characterised biospecimens and more than one million ultrasound images, forming a strong foundation for advanced research.

Dr. Jitendra Singh said that the outcomes of the programme include developing AI-based pregnancy dating models tailored for Indian populations, identification of microbiome-based predictors of preterm birth, rapid diagnostic tools, and genetic markers for early risk assessment. He added that such indigenous solutions are critical for improving maternal and child health outcomes in the country.

The Minister released a compendium documenting the key learnings and outcomes of the GARBH-INi programme. He said the initiative has also established a national biorepository and the GARBH-INi-DRISHTI data-sharing platform, enabling wider access for the research community and contributing to global scientific publications.

Dr. Jitendra Singh said that maternal and child health is central to India’s future growth, adding that the children born today will define the country’s strength and productivity in 2047. He said initiatives like GARBH-INi are part of a larger national mission linking science with long-term nation-building.

 Referring to India’s bioeconomy growth from nearly 10 billion USD in 2014 to about 195 billion USD, the Minister said that biotechnology has played a leading role in this expansion. He said India is now being recognised globally for its strengths in preventive and primary healthcare, supported by indigenous innovations.

Dr. V.K. Paul, Member, NITI Aayog, said that the next phase of the programme should focus on effectively utilising the tools, predictive models and platforms developed so far. He emphasised the need for continued scientific efforts, stronger collaborations, and deeper analysis of outcomes to take the initiative forward.

Concluding, Dr. Jitendra Singh said that by strengthening maternal and child health through science-driven initiatives like GARBH-INi, India is shaping a healthier, more productive generation and laying a strong foundation for a developed India by 2047.