Blossom

Your go-to health app for early diagnosis of breast cancer for women who need easy access to breast health resources. while ensuring privacy and cultural inclusivity.

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Blossom

Category: Solving SDG5 in healthcare

Why we built this

Centuries have passed, yet women worldwide still face significant barriers to accessing essential breast health resources and preventive care. This lack of access leads to late detection of breast cancer and preventable health complications, especially in underserved communities with limited healthcare services and low breast health awareness.

Cultural stigmas, limited education, and inadequate resources further widen this gap in preventive care, leaving many women vulnerable. These are the challenges we identified in our local communities and aim to address with Blossom.

What it does

Blossom is a web-based platform designed to empower women with tools for proactive breast health management and to close the gender gap in healthcare access and education. It features image analysis for early breast cancer detection.

Product Objectives

  1. Provide an accessible and user-friendly web application that supports women's breast health, focusing on ultrasound-based breast assessments and breast cancer awareness.
  2. Empowerment through Independent Self-Checks: Enable users to perform self-checks, conduct scans on the app, and schedule assessments.
  3. Enlightenment on Breast Health: Spread awareness about breast cancer and educate users on early detection methods.

Target Market

Our target audience is divided into two groups:

  1. Primary: Women seeking breast health resources and assessments (ages 13+).
  2. Secondary: Healthcare providers and organizations supporting breast cancer awareness.

Unique Selling Point

Radiotherapy plays a crucial role in breast cancer treatment. Early-stage detection through radiation can reduce the need for mastectomy. Blossom’s unique image analysis feature, which leverages ultrasounds and mammograms, supports early detection of breast cancer.

Product Requirements (Features)

Features & Functionalities

User Profile & Personalization

  • User account creation and profile setup
  • Access to personalized breast health reminders and resources

Breast Health Assessment Tools

  • Step-by-step guidance for self-breast exams
  • Scheduling options for in-person or online consultations for ultrasound assessments
  • Record-keeping and tracking of past assessments and appointments

Awareness & Educational Resources

  • Access to comprehensive breast cancer education

Community & Support

  • Discussion forums or a Q&A section with health professionals

How we built it

  • For Frontend: NextJS and ReactJS for a responsive, interactive user interface
  • For Backend: NextJS
  • For APIs: NextJS inbuilt APIs
  • For Database: MongoDB to store user profiles, assessments, and content
  • Authentication: Secure user login using Firebase
  • For Machine Learning: PyTorch: For building a neural network classifier
    • For Transformations: For data preprocessing
    • For Datasets & Data Loaders: For data management and loading

Challenges we ran into

Our team, based in Kenya and Nigeria, faced challenges accessing Google Cloud credits because our credit and debit cards were repeatedly declined. As a result, we opted to use AWS for our datasets.

What we learned

We can work under pressure because we have a deadline of 5 days.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

Working with an awesome team of medical and tech professionals to solve the problem of late breast cancer diagnosis.

What's next for Blossom

  1. Pilot Testing: We'll launch Blossom to a small set of users to get genuine feedback and make the app even easier to use.

  2. AI Enhancement: We are improving our picture analysis to detect early indicators of breast concerns with better accuracy.

  3. Healthcare Partnerships: Collaborating with hospitals and clinics to provide Blossom directly to the populations that need it most.

  4. Awareness initiatives: Launching initiatives to raise awareness about breast health in communities where information is typically scarce.

  5. Mobile App: We're creating a mobile app version to make Blossom more accessible to everyone.

  6. Cloud Options: Despite earlier issues, we are working to get Google Cloud credits while maintaining AWS as a solid option.

These steps will bring us closer to making breast health resources accessible to women everywhere.

Our Why

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), 670,000 women died from breast cancer globally in 2022, making it the second leading cause of cancer deaths in women after lung cancer. Blossom is a step forward in reducing this death rate by providing accessible breast health resources and preventive care for women worldwide.

Aligned with SDG 5, Blossom addresses a critical health inequality by ensuring women have the necessary tools and information to take informed, proactive actions for their health. Through Blossom, we aspire to foster a world where breast health awareness is universal—where women can truly blossom.

Inspiration

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