Aarogya Aarohan app

Oral cancer is a major public health concern, with over 140,000 new cases and 80,000 deaths occurring annually in India. More than 70% of oral cancers are diagnosed at advanced stages, largely due to poor access to specialists, especially in rural and primary care settings. In this context, the Aarogya Aarohan app, developed by the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), uses oral images captured in white light on a mobile phone to instantly classify lesions as suspicious or non-suspicious, even in offline conditions. This enables immediate counselling and referral, reducing loss to follow-up, which is a persistent gap in cancer screening pathways.

  • Designed to be mobile-first, offline-first, artificial intelligence (AI)-powered, and edge-deployed, IISc’s Aarogya Aarohan is the only tool of its kind globally that provides instant results at the point of care.
  • In the telemedicine-based Phase 1 implementation phase, the imaging-based version of Aarogya Aarohan (without AI) was field validated across nine sites in India.
  • In one year, 30,000 individuals were screened, and 1,101 individuals were identified with high-risk oral lesions.
  • The tool has been used in homes, hospitals, agricultural fields, places of worship, and other remote places (accessibility and availability).
  • In Phase 2, the AI-enabled tool will be implemented across five districts. If found feasible, it will be integrated into the National Programme for Prevention and Control of Non-Communicable Diseases and made available as a digital public good (affordability).

This project is supported under the Kotak IISc AI–ML Centre’s AI in Health initiative.

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