A pocket-sized device designed to ‘save the sight of millions of people around the world’ has been launched by a team led from the University of St Andrews.
Named Arclight, the low-cost, solar-powered ophthalmoscope was aimed at helping health workers in low-income countries detect signs of blindness, a university statement revealed this week.
It could also be used as an otoscope to look into the ears and help prevent deafness, researchers said.
A study led from the International Centre for Eye Health in London showed that it performed as well as traditional devices costing up to 100 times as much, the statement added. Using the Arclight, an examiner can see the front and back of the eye, to help reveal conditions such as trachoma, cataract, glaucoma and diabetes.
Through collaboration with the Fred Hollows Foundation and the International Agency for Prevention of Blindness, thousands of units have been distributed to countries including Malawi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Rwanda, Ghana, Fiji, Indonesia and the Solomon Islands.
Dr Andrew Blaikie, clinical academic at the University of St Andrews and eye surgeon at Queen Margaret Hospital with NHS Fife said: ‘Arclight is the result of years of hard work by a small team of enthusiasts. These efforts have brought simple, frugal yet highly effective tools to health care workers who would otherwise be unable to make the early diagnoses needed to prevent needless blindness.
‘The work of the Global Health Team at St Andrews has helped focus attention on the exact needs and challenges of health care workers in low-income countries. We now aim to add internal memory loaded with teaching material and a clip to allow image capture with mobile phone cameras to the next version of the device. At the same time we are developing several other potentially disruptive low cost diagnostic tools aimed at serving the needs of health care workers in poorer countries.’
The University of St Andrews has also established a spin off company to promote sales of the device and coordinate the subsidised distribution to low income countries.