BobiHealth: How Dave Esra is Using AI to Combat the Global Maternal Health Crisis and Save 800 Lives a Day

Every single day, 800 women lose their lives due to complications related to pregnancy and childbirth. It is a staggering global statistic that feels even more tragic when you realize that 94% of these deaths are avoidable. In a world where we can predict everything from weather patterns to stock market fluctuations, the high-stakes journey of maternal health has remained largely reactive—often addressed only when an emergency room visit is the last remaining option. For thousands of years, pregnancy has been a "black box" of biological mystery, but today, data is finally shedding light on the hidden indicators of crisis.

Enter Dave Esra, the co-founder and CEO of BobiHealth. A retired Army officer and an MIT-trained AI specialist, Dave is on a mission to turn the "wait-and-see" model of maternal care into a proactive, predictive science. By training machine learning models on a massive dataset of 10 million pregnancies from India, BobiHealth is providing a digital guardian for mothers across the globe. From the high-tech suburbs of the US to the rural heartlands of the Philippines, Dave is proving that Radical Inclusivity in data isn't just a corporate buzzword—it's a clinical necessity for saving lives.

The Genesis: From COVID Studies to MIT Challenges

Dave Esra’s transition into maternal health wasn't accidental. It began with global studies conducted alongside co-founder Mohit Sani, analyzing the impact of COVID vaccines on pregnancies. The data they saw was a wake-up call. Later, while studying AI at MIT, Dave was challenged to solve a real-world problem using the technology.

"To me, the choice was clear," Dave recalls. "The gap in knowledge in the maternal health space was enormous. We wanted to meet people where they are—on their smartphones—and create a platform that alerts them to potential Adverse Events before they arise."

This led to the birth of BobiHealth, an AI-powered platform that tracks Adverse Events like preeclampsia, infection, hemorrhage, and even postpartum mental health issues. By capturing daily data points—heart rate, O2 levels, temperature, and subjective feelings—the app acts as a 24/7 monitor that never sleeps.

The Data Engine: 10 Million Records and Open Source Ethics

One of the biggest challenges for any AI startup is the "cold start" problem—finding enough high-quality data to train a model. BobiHealth found its breakthrough in an enormous state-level dataset from India covering 10 million pregnancies.

"We had to spend a lot of time cleaning it up," Dave explains. "But it allowed us to build models—from basic linear regression to random forests and neural networks—that can predict outcomes with extraordinary accuracy. But to truly do what we want, we realized we had to collect the data ourselves through the app to eliminate inherent biases."

Dave advocates for a Lean Startup approach combined with the resources offered by tech giants. BobiHealth partnered with Microsoft for Startups, receiving up to $120,000 in Azure credits to power their experimentation. "The AI models are open source now. The work is in finding and cleaning the data sets," he advises fellow founders.

Implementation: Navigating the "Doctor-Patient" Paradox

One of the most surprising pieces of feedback Dave received during beta testing was from the medical community. While providers saw the value in remote monitoring, many didn't want the liability or the time-burden of watching a live dashboard of patients.

"It was a little bit shocking," Dave admits. "The doctors said, 'I don't have time to be a doctor and a data monitor.' So we pivoted. We now offer the remote monitoring to the partner or caregiver—the spouse, parent, or Doula. As a retired Army officer, I know the value of being able to monitor my spouse's health while I'm deployed. It empowers the family to have a more meaningful conversation when they finally do see the doctor."

Economics: The Value of Avoided Catastrophe

BobiHealth isn't just a social cause; it's a disruptive business model. In the US, an adverse event like a pre-term birth can cost a healthcare system or a family up to $150,000. If BobiHealth’s early intervention can catch that event when it only costs $10,000 to manage, the cost-saving is $140,000.

"We can contract to collect a percentage of those savings," Dave explains. This Value-Based Healthcare model aligns the interests of the mother, the hospital, and the startup. While the app is free for offshore users in India and the Philippines, the US market provides the revenue engine to scale the mission globally.

Dave’s Advice: Radical Inclusivity and "No Bullshit"

As BobiHealth scales to its next language (Spanish) and builds its Android version, Dave remains focused on Radical Inclusivity. He believes that machine learning is only as good as the diversity of its users. If you only train on one type of person, the AI inherits those biases.

His final piece of advice for founders comes from Tony Fadell’s book, Build. "We have one rule at Bobi: No Bullshit," Dave says emphatically. "In a startup, you have to dive in, empower your team to fail and learn, and never let anyone just sit there waiting to be told what to do."

Conclusion: The Epidemic We Can Solve

The story of BobiHealth is a testament to the idea that the most powerful application of AI isn't in generating art or text, but in protecting the most fundamental biological process of humanity. By turning 10 million data points into a protective shield for pregnant women, Dave Esra is proving that technology can finally solve the age-old epidemic of maternal mortality. As India prepares its "Health Stack," platforms like BobiHealth will be the cornerstone of a future where no mother has to walk the journey of pregnancy alone.