LowBandwidth Chatbot for Healthcare in Rural Areas

The need for accessible healthcare solutions is critical in rural areas where physical access to medical professionals and healthcare facilities can be scarce. Internet connectivity in such areas is often limited, which makes using traditional telehealth services challenging. The solution is a chatbot that is specifically optimized for low-bandwidth environments, allowing users to access medical information and advice without the burden of high data consumption. By focusing on minimal data transfer and leveraging lightweight models, the chatbot remains accessible and effective even in areas with poor network coverage. This ensures that users can receive real-time assistance and health advice through a simple text-based interface on their mobile phones or web browsers. How It Works: The chatbot operates as a web-based service, hosted on a platform like Heroku or Render.com, which allows users to access it through a web link. It is built using Flask, a lightweight web framework, making it easy to deploy and maintain. For the backend, the chatbot uses the Groq API, integrated with a state-of-the-art LLaMA model, to interpret user queries and generate appropriate responses. The model is trained to provide information on common health conditions, symptoms, and preventive measures, allowing users to get instant answers to their questions. Additionally, the application incorporates a local SQLite database to store chat history and interactions. Each user session creates a new database file with a timestamped filename, enabling the storage of user queries and corresponding responses. This helps in tracking user interactions over time, facilitating future analysis for improving the chatbot’s performance and understanding common health concerns within specific communities.