GARBH-INi: India's largest pregnancy cohort of 12,000 women to build AI tools for preterm birth
On 23 March 2026 Dr. Jitendra Singh said the DBT's GARBH-INi programme has enrolled around 12,000 pregnant women â India's largest pregnancy cohort â to develop indigenous AI-driven tools for predicting preterm births.
Summary
Union Minister Dr. Jitendra Singh, addressing a programme on 'Disseminating Learnings and Outcomes of GARBH-INi' at India Habitat Centre, New Delhi, on 23 March 2026, said the cohort study of about 12,000 pregnant women is aimed at developing indigenous, AI-driven solutions for preterm births, a leading cause of neonatal mortality. GARBH-INi (Interdisciplinary Group for Advanced Research on Birth Outcomes) is a Department of Biotechnology initiative that combines clinical epidemiology, multi-omics biomarkers and artificial intelligence for personalised predictions; it has created one of South Asia's largest pregnancy cohorts. The event was attended by DBT Secretary Dr. Rajesh S. Gokhale, NITI Aayog Member Dr. V.K. Paul and THSTI Executive Director Dr. Ganesan Karthikeyan.
Key facts
- Programme
- GARBH-INi â Interdisciplinary Group for Advanced Research on Birth Outcomes
- Run by
- Department of Biotechnology
- Cohort
- ~12,000 pregnant women â India's largest pregnancy cohort
- Goal
- Indigenous AI tools to predict preterm births
- Approach
- Clinical epidemiology + multi-omics biomarkers + AI
- Event
- 23 March 2026, India Habitat Centre, New Delhi
Practice MCQs 2 questions
The GARBH-INi programme, highlighted in March 2026, focuses on developing AI tools to predict:
Show answer
Correct answer: A â Preterm births
GARBH-INi aims at indigenous, AI-driven solutions for preterm births, a leading cause of neonatal mortality.
Consider the following about GARBH-INi: 1. It is an initiative of the Department of Biotechnology. 2. It has enrolled around 12,000 pregnant women. 3. It is run by the Indian Council of Medical Research under the Ministry of Health. Which of the above is/are correct?
Show answer
Correct answer: B â 1 and 2 only
GARBH-INi is a Department of Biotechnology initiative, not an ICMR programme; it has enrolled about 12,000 pregnant women.