In Kenya, mobile to help treat eye
Published on Sunday, September 8, 2013
6:43 PM //
Technology
When in 1990, when toddler three years, Simon Kamau popped one eye while playing with a sharp object, his family in a rural area of the Rift Valley in Kenya, did not afford the 80 km journey to the first specialist in Nairobi. Twenty-three years later, a promising technology should allow doctors located several thousand kilometers help patients with eye diseases.
A team from the Faculty of Tropical Medicine, London tests in the area of Nakuru, Kenya, a technique simple and cheap diagnostic eye through a smartphone. " Kenya was a place of obvious test , says the project leader, Dr. Andrew Bastawrous. In this country of over 40 million people, there are only 86 ophthalmologists, 43 exercise in Nairobi. "
THE "EYE-PHONE"
Technology under development for five years and now in its final phase, uses a smartphone with an additional goal that scans the retina and software that stores data. Each " eye-phone "costs a few hundred dollars and can provide examinations usually require professional equipment worth tens of thousands of dollars and weighing over one hundred pounds.
In the study conducted by doctors of the project in the region of Nakuru, 5000 patients were examined with both the Eye-phone and with a professional camera to compare the results. According to Dr. Bastawrous, the invention has been found work and was able to detect various diseases such as glaucoma, cataracts, nearsightedness or farsightedness.
PREVENT BLINDNESS
After the examination, the data is sent online to a team of specialists who can make a diagnosis and recommend a treatment from eye drops and glasses to complex surgical operations once a fortnight in hospital in Nakuru, about 150 km northwest of Nairobi. So far 200 patients in the study underwent surgery with an opportunity to correct various eye conditions.Simon Kamau, who is now 26 years old and blind, is among those waiting to be made.
Doctors believe unlikely that damaged his eye recovers its full vision because of the age of the wound, but they say they can stop the relentless pain that undermines the young man and his healthy eye swelling due to the efforts of one to compensate for the blind eye. "I can hardly perform manual labor on the farm. When the sun shines, my eye runs and I feel a sharp pain " , says Simon Kamau, who lives with six members of his family on a small farm near Naivasha, about one hundred miles northwest of Nairobi.
Doctors hope that one day this technology will revolutionize access to treatment for millions of low-income Africans who suffer from eye disease and blindness. An important issue, 80% of blindness is preventable or curable in Kenya.
