A new smartphone app called the Portable Eye Examination Kit (PEEK) is bringing eye exams to students in rural Kenya. Colloquially called the “pocket optician,” the app is intended to catch eye problems in children who lack access to a traditional eye doctor.
Eight teachers in Kitale, Kenya will be the first to be trained to use PEEK in their classrooms. Designed to be mobile and used with only basic training, teachers can give eye exams to their students and catch eye problems before they become a serious issue and cause students to fall behind in school.
PEEK was designed by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and works by displaying a shrinking letter on the phone’s screen to be used as a vision test. Additionally, the phone’s flashlight and camera can be used to scan the retina for optic nerve health and the lens for cataracts. Results of the exams are stored on the phone to be emailed to doctors, who can follow up with any eye health issues.
Though PEEK is still in the trial stage, early results are encouraging, and those involved in the project are excited about its potential.
Peter Ackland, from the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness, notes that “teachers are the gateway to testing children in many low-income countries.” PEEK could prevent situations where, due to a lack of human resources to conduct eye exams, children “go through life with an eye condition that’s entirely avoidable.”
According to the World Health Organization, 258 million people are blind or visually impaired, but four out of five cases could be prevented or cured with treatment. The most common problem in children is simply poor eyesight, which, when diagnosed and corrected with glasses, drastically increases children’s opportunity and ability to perform well at school.
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Written by Carla Drumhiller Smith