In Senegal, more than 300 people live with hemophilia, a rare disease. To enhance awareness and management of hemophilia, we have developed a voice chatbot in Wolof.
Indeed, hemophilia is a rare disease that prevents blood from clotting and can lead to potentially severe bleeding. This condition, still relatively unknown in the country, represents a major challenge in terms of awareness and patient care.
In this context, we have developed a Wolof voice chatbot for hemophilia in Senegal, an innovative digital solution aimed at improving awareness and management of this still little-known disease in the country.
This project was made possible through the collaboration of Awa Babington-Ashaye, PhD candidate and scientific consultant, Professor Antoine Geissbuhler, Director of the eHealth and Telemedicine Department at Geneva University Hospital (HUG), with financial support from the Novo Nordisk Haemophilia Foundation and in partnership with the Dakar Blood Transfusion Center (CNTS).
I. Why a Wolof Chatbot for Hemophilia in Senegal?
Wolof is the most widely spoken language in Senegal, but few people are able to read it. Given this reality, and with over 80% of adults with hemophilia owning a smartphone, it became clear that technology needed to be leveraged to bridge this information gap.
The Wolof voice chatbot overcomes the language barrier by providing accessible and understandable answers to the Senegalese population. It uses voice, a more natural means of communication.
With Kàllaama, we have provided advanced speech synthesis and recognition for Wolof.
The user experience is smooth and natural, allowing users to ask questions vocally and receive accurate answers in Wolof
Kàllaama is not just a text-to-audio conversion tool; it is a comprehensive system that includes both speech recognition and speech synthesis, specifically optimized for African local languages like Wolof. This natural language processing (NLP) model has ensured accurate understanding of vocal queries and provides clear, smooth, and natural responses, perfectly adapting to the culture and language of the Senegalese user.
II. The role of Kàllaama in the Design of the Saytu Hemophilia Chatbot
Kàllaama is a suite of natural language processing solutions based on artificial intelligence. It enhances interaction by making communications more intuitive and accessible.
It has played a central role in the Saytu Hemophilia mobile application, designed to improve patient care.
– Kàllaama: A collection of innovative projects for our local languages
Kàllaama encompasses a series of projects that include three essential models: a speech recognition model (ASR), a speech synthesis model (TTS), and a machine translation model (NMT). Each of these models plays a key role in our efforts to promote the use of local languages, such as Wolof, in new technologies.
The speech recognition model transcribes voice into text. We live in a context where our national language, Wolof, is spoken more often than written.
Today, with platforms like WhatsApp, the use of voice has become a preferred means of communication, even for those with limited educational backgrounds.
Thus, a model that allows users to interact directly with technology through voice represents a significant advancement.
As for the speech synthesis model, it addresses an equally crucial need. A person who is not proficient in writing a language will also struggle to read it effectively. The speech synthesis system transforms written text into spoken discourse, thereby facilitating access to information for everyone.
Regarding machine translation, many resources are available on the web, but often in foreign languages. Our machine translation system aims to make these resources accessible by translating them into our local language. This also helps build corpora that can enrich other models, such as speech recognition or synthesis.
The Saytu Hemophilia application thus enables:
- Downloading educational videos on disease management,
- Geolocation of the nearest care centers,
- Access to emergency numbers for rapid assistance.
This application is fully manageable via a console, allowing the teams at HUG to easily update medical and contact information.
III. Impact of the wolof chatbot on Hemophilia awareness in Senegal
This project does not stop here. With BAAMTU's expertise in software engineering and artificial intelligence, along with the power of Kàllaama, new local languages such as Dioula, Pular, or Bambara can be integrated. Other diseases can also be addressed. The goal is to broaden the chatbot's impact to improve the quality of life for patients through accessible and relevant information.
The Saytu Hemophilia project is a significant advancement for raising awareness of the disease in Senegal.
By combining artificial intelligence, voice technologies, and the innovation of Kàllaama, we have developed a digital solution tailored to local needs. It now allows the Senegalese population to easily access essential information about hemophilia.
Today, in various fields, our chatbots are designed to adapt to specific needs, such as customer service, with solutions like STT (Speech-to-Text), TTS (Text-to-Speech), and automated translation into local languages.
The language barrier is no longer a challenge, thanks to real-time recognition and interpretation of voice and text queries from various sources (WhatsApp, Twitter, etc.). It is not limited to the synthesis or recognition of recorded files; it integrates advanced AI capable of adapting to users' needs, regardless of the communication channel or language used.
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