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Overcome the barriers of vision care in Africa using smartphones

Award Number: R33EY034345
ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL EYE INSTITUTE
OPDIV: NIH
AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY
AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 09/01/2022
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 06/30/2027

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Overcome the barriers of vision care in Africa using smartphones - PROJECT SUMMARY Worldwide, 671 million people have uncorrected refractive error out of which 161 million people have distance vision impairments due to uncorrected refractive error (URE). Distance vision impairment due to URE especially affects children and young adults, limiting their educational activities and social life. Although the prevalence of refractive error is lower, the prevalence of blindness due to URE in Africa is 6 times as that in high-income regions of the world. This indicates widespread disparities in access to eye care in Africa, which leads to long term negative effects. As a matter of fact, there are only 2.5 ophthalmologists per million population in Sub-Saharan Africa, against a global mean of about 32 ophthalmologists per million. Innovative community-based approaches are needed to tackle the increasing burden of providing the needed healthcare. In response to the grant opportunity to improve healthcare access to low and middle-income countries using mobile health, we propose to develop an AI-powered mobile application for measurement of refractive error and validate it by performing field tests in Ethiopia. With its relatively simple protocol, the app can allow lay people measure myopic refractive error using only a smartphone, without needing any phone attachments. Thus, it overcomes the main barriers of cost and resources. A recent study on this refraction app showed good consistency with clinical measurements of refraction in a multi-center study in the US and China. In the R21 phase, we will train a custom neural network on face datasets of African origin. We will validate the app measurements of refraction in Ethiopia by comparing it with standard clinical measurement, and also by determining the improvements in the visual acuity resulting from the app-based refractive correction. After the validation of the mobile technology for prescribing affordable eyeglasses in hospital settings, we will further evaluate community vision care programs in the R33 phase, including vision testing and dispensing of eyeglasses. Community volunteers will be trained to perform vision screening with the app and a field test will be performed in rural Ethiopia to determine the sensitivity and specificity of community-based myopia screening approach in real-world settings. With the mHealth solution, we are poised to make significant impact on the eye care in Africa. In addition, technologies and care models studied in this project will also be relevant to improving healthcare in the United States. The findings and lessons learned may inform scalable, low-cost approaches for improving access to eye screening and treatment in American rural communities and areas with shortages of eye-care professionals.


Issue Date FY	Funding FY	Legal Entity Name	Legal Entity Address	Legal Entity City	Legal Entity State	Legal Entity Zip Code	Legal Entity COUNTY	Legal Entity COUNTRY	Assistance Listing	Award Code	Budget Year	Action Date	Action Type	Action Amount

Issue Date FY: 2026 ( Subtotal = $357,118 )
2026	2026	SCHEPENS EYE RESEARCH INSTITUTE, INC., THE	20 STANIFORD ST	BOSTON	MA	02114	SUFFOLK	USA	Vision Research	000	5	8/14/2026	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$357,118
														Subtotal = $357,118

Issue Date FY: 2025 ( Subtotal = $313,856 )
2025	2025	SCHEPENS EYE RESEARCH INSTITUTE, INC., THE	20 STANIFORD ST	BOSTON	MA	02114	SUFFOLK	USA	Vision Research	002	4	9/22/2025	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$313,856
2025	2024	SCHEPENS EYE RESEARCH INSTITUTE, INC., THE	20 STANIFORD ST	BOSTON	MA	02114	SUFFOLK	USA	Vision Research	001	3	5/20/2025	EXTENSION WITH OR WITHOUT FUNDS	$0
2025	2024	SCHEPENS EYE RESEARCH INSTITUTE, INC., THE	20 STANIFORD ST	BOSTON	MA	02114	SUFFOLK	USA	Vision Research	000	3	10/10/2024	EXTENSION WITH OR WITHOUT FUNDS	$0
														Subtotal = $313,856

Issue Date FY: 2024 ( Subtotal = $392,247 )
2024	2024	SCHEPENS EYE RESEARCH INSTITUTE, INC., THE	20 STANIFORD ST	BOSTON	MA	02114	SUFFOLK	USA	Vision Research	000	3	8/12/2024	EXTENSION WITH OR WITHOUT FUNDS	$392,247
														Subtotal = $392,247

Grand Total All Awards = $1,063,221

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Overcome the barriers of vision care in Africa using smartphones

Award Number: R33EY034345

ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL EYE INSTITUTE

OPDIV: NIH

AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY

AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 09/01/2022

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 06/30/2027

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