Trials In Kenya are so far successful
It’s believed that one of the most common reasons people remain blind is that they give up quick, but 34-year-old ophthalmologist from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine Andrew Bastawrous will beg to disagree. With over 280 million people suffering from Blindness or poor sight 90% of which are from developing nations all they need is a pair of glasses or simple cataract surgery.
Ophthalmologists, Andrew together with Tropical Medicine have invented the Portable Eye Examination Kit, or PEEK, a mobile app and clip-on hardware that transforms a smartphone (eye-phone) into a pocket-size optical clinic. After pilot study done involving 5,000 people in Kenya, which is scheduled to wrap up in March. He is hoping to make PEEK available around the world,with other trials in Tanzania, Botswana and India.
“A smartphone into a pocket-size optical clinic”
An eye specialist with minimal training can use PEEK — which costs only about $500 Comparing this to the latest hospital equipment, that costs around $160,000 it’s a no brainier that PEEK is a cost-effective solution. The phone screen displays a simple vision test while the camera scans the eye for cataracts. Meanwhile, the camera’s flashlight can be used to check for glaucoma and other diseases. PEEK also stores contact information and GPS data for each patient, which can then be emailed to doctors. For now the app works only on Androids, but Bastawrous plans to make PEEK available across platforms.
