We are committed to saving
newborn lives.
We are developing a smartphone app
that can detect severe neonatal jaundice
in African newborns.
Jaundice in Term and Preterm Babies [1]
Jaundice
A common condition with major health risks.
Jaundice is a very common condition, affecting over 60% of all babies [1].
Babies in Sub-Saharan Africa are the most at risk.
The rate of long-term impairment due to jaundice is approximately ten times higher in Sub-Saharan Africa than in high-income countries [2]. Access to affordable and appropriate screening tools can reduce this disparity.
There is an urgent need for affordable, point-of-care tests
to screen for neonatal jaundice.
... so we are building an app.
OUR APP WILL
- Quantify the 'yellowness' of the white of the eye
- Derive a predicted bilirubin level
- Aid clinical decision making
Affordable
Our app is a low cost solution, making it ideal for low and middle-income countries.
Accessible
Avoiding the need for specialist screening devices, our app enables visiting midwives and parents to screen for jaundice at the point of care.
Non-Invasive
Our app uses a non-contact method to determine bilirubin levels, meaning that no consumables or sterilisations are needed.
Objective
Unlike visual inspection, our method is objective. Our app relates a quantitative measure of sclera colour to a bilirubin level.
a collaboration between ...
[1] J. Rennie, S. Burman-Roy, M. S. Murphy, G. D. Group, et al., “Neonatal jaundice: summary of nice guidance,” BMJ, vol. 340, no. 7757, p. c2409, 2010.
[2] V. K. Bhutani, A. Zipursky, H. Blencowe, R. Khanna, M. Sgro, F. Ebbe- sen, J. Bell, R. Mori, T. M. Slusher, N. Fahmy, et al., “Neonatal hyperbilirubinemia and rhesus disease of the newborn: incidence and impairment estimates for 2010 at regional and global levels,” Pediatric research, vol. 74, no. Suppl 1, p. 86, 2013.
