The encyclopedia · Product & Design · Product decision · 2013–2016
Peek turned smartphones into eye clinics to screen children where no optician exists
A clip-on lens and an app let community workers photograph retinas and run vision tests, then route referrals by text.
Peek Vision
the move
Dr Andrew Bastawrous and colleagues developed Peek at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine after realizing the people who needed eye care could not reach hospitals; the kit pairs an app with clip-on hardware so tests can be done at patients' doors, including in the Nakuru district of Kenya.
In the Peek acuity test, an 'E' appears on screen in varying orientations and the test giver swipes the direction the patient points; when impaired vision is detected, the school and the student's parents get a text message asking them to seek care. A clip-on adapter photographs the retina for remote grading.
A validation study published in JAMA Ophthalmology in 2016 graded optic-disc images taken in Kenya by an ophthalmic assistant using the Peek adapter against a digital fundus camera and found the smartphone images acceptable for grading. Peek then moved from trials into school screening, with a rollout targeting 300,000 students in Trans-Nzoia County.
why it works
- Phones are already everywhere, so hardware cost collapses.
- Community workers can screen where no optician exists.
- Digital referrals connect villages to hospitals.
- Peer-reviewed validation proved the images were good enough.
what transfers
Don't build a hospital in every village; rebuild the exam so the worker who already visits can deliver it, on a phone everyone owns, and route only the referrals to scarce specialists.
what came after
Peek Vision was co-founded by Bastawrous and Kenyan ophthalmologist Hillary Rono, and the app moved from trials into school screening programs; by 2016 a rollout targeting 300,000 students in Trans-Nzoia County was underway, with the toolkit later reused for community eye programs beyond Kenya.
references
- Clinical Validation of a Smartphone-Based Adapter for Optic Disc Imaging in Kenya
- How an app is being used to prevent blindness in children
- Portable eye clinic in a smartphone
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