Eyenaemia

Eyenaemia, is the first simple, non-invasive and easily accessible screening tool for anaemia which can be used by anyone. Bill Gates said our solution “could be a real life saver in the developing world”. Eyenaemia harnesses a technique used by clinicians for centuries and makes an objective, reliable method to assess a users' risk of anaemia. Eyenaemia looks at the colour of the inner lining of the lower eyelid to make a prediction about the user's risk of anaemia, by analysing a photo taken by the user of their eyelid with a special colour reference in view. Eyenaemia makes screening for anaemia as simple as taking a selfie.

Anaemia affects 1.62 billion people worldwide and still today results in up to 20% of maternal deaths. 293 million children worldwide suffer from anaemia.1  The World Health Organization database shows that in developing countries around 50% of preschool children and every second pregnant woman are considered anaemic.2 There is currently no non-invasive, low cost, objective and easily accessible screening option for anaemia available. Eyenaemia can be used on any camera enabled device, from low-end cell phones to smart phones. Its cloud based system means that it can be updated worldwide with a click of a button. 

We have constructed a prototype and proved our concept in a multicentre research trial. Our next immediate steps are to validate our solution in a larger and more diverse population, especially within our key demographics and geographies. Our results are promising in individuals with severe anaemia but we also aim to identify our solutions efficacy in mild and moderate anaemia. To do so, we aim to commence larger trials once we have secured funding. We have engineers and medical personnel on our team to ensure efficient and timely development of Eyenaemia. 

We intend to provide our solution to NGOs and health care organisations in the developing world to collect more data in field usage to help train and validate our solution in these circumstances. We'd love to hear from any organisations that do blood testing for anaemia or provide dietary supplementation and deworming programmes to see how we can work together to identify areas of need and response to treatment.