Malcare

A project which uses a azure AI, azure functions and copilot to help diagnose, treat and prevent malaria illness.

Comment

MalCare - Virtual Physician for Malaria Diagnosis

Inspiration

Health is a fundamental aspect of human life. Malaria remains one of the leading causes of death, particularly among children. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), malaria caused 619,000 deaths in 2021, with a majority occurring in sub-Saharan Africa. The early symptoms, if properly diagnosed and treated, can prevent severe cases and fatalities. However, access to a physician remains a significant challenge, especially in rural areas.

Studies suggest that people who have access to virtual doctors tend to open up more about their symptoms, leading to early detection and treatment. MalCare aims to bridge this healthcare gap by providing an AI-powered virtual physician for malaria diagnosis and treatment guidance.

What It Does

MalCare is an AI-driven virtual physician that helps diagnose malaria symptoms through a human-like avatar conversation. It utilizes Azure AI services, including:

  • Azure GPT-40 for intelligent conversation-based diagnosis.
  • Azure Cognitive Services Speech Avatar (combining Text-to-Speech and Speech-to-Text) for realistic patient interaction.
  • PostgreSQL on Azure for securely storing patient data.

MalCare offers users:

  • A conversational AI experience to assess symptoms.
  • AI-powered malaria diagnosis and treatment recommendations.
  • Easy access to virtual healthcare for rural and urban users.

How We Built It

  1. Azure Foundry & GPT-40: We selected our AI model from Azure Foundry.
  2. Azure Cognitive Services Speech Avatar: We integrated Text-to-Speech (TTS) and Speech-to-Text (STT) for a natural conversation flow.
  3. GitHub Copilot: Used to:
    • Speed up code writing.
    • Suggest code snippets for integrating Speech Studio chat avatar.
    • Add helpful code comments for maintainability.
    • Improve overall efficiency by reducing development time by more than 50%.
  4. PostgreSQL on Azure: After retrieving the source code from GitHub, we successfully deployed the database on Azure for structured patient record storage.
  5. Azure Web Services: Hosted the application on Azure Web to ensure accessibility.

Challenges We Ran Into

  • API Key Management: Initially faced issues obtaining API keys for Azure Foundry and Azure Speech Services. Using Founders Hub, we secured the necessary credentials.
  • Speech Avatar Integration: Ensuring smooth integration of speech services and video for an interactive experience.

Accomplishments That We're Proud Of

  • Successfully developed a non-invasive malaria diagnosis application accessible to both urban and rural populations.
  • Achieved a fully deployed and functional system leveraging GitHub Copilot, Azure AI, and PostgreSQL.
  • Created an engaging conversational AI experience through Speech Avatar and GPT-40.

What We Learned

  • Best practices for AI-driven virtual healthcare.
  • How to leverage GitHub Copilot to boost development efficiency.
  • Effective cloud deployment on Azure, including database integration.
  • Ways to improve immune system health to reduce malaria risk.

What's Next for MalCare

  • Expand database storage: Implement Cosmos DB (MongoDB API) for scalable user records.
  • Enhance AI capabilities: Improve malaria prediction models with real-world data.
  • Broaden Azure integrations: Utilize additional Azure Cloud products for enhanced efficiency.

Submission Categories

This project is submitted for all categories:

  1. Best Use of GitHub Copilot: Demonstrated how Copilot improved productivity, code quality, and project development speed.
  2. Best Use of Azure AI Services: Leveraged GPT-40, Speech Avatar, Azure Web, and PostgreSQL for a robust AI healthcare solution.
  3. Best Health Tech Innovation: Aims to revolutionize malaria diagnosis with AI-driven virtual consultation.

keynote

  • Technological Implementation: MalCare demonstrates high-quality software development by effectively leveraging Azure AI services and GitHub Copilot.
  • Design: The blend of frontend UI and backend AI ensures a seamless user experience.
  • Potential Impact: The project can help millions in malaria-prone regions access timely diagnosis.
  • Quality of the Idea: MalCare offers an innovative and scalable virtual physician solution that improves upon existing healthcare models.

MalCare is revolutionizing malaria diagnosis through AI-driven virtual healthcare. With Azure AI and GitHub Copilot, we’re making early detection more accessible and efficient than ever!

Built With

Share this project:

Updates