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Up to 90 percent of visual impairments in children are preventable or curable if caught early enough. AI is now making that possible.
Every day, 11,000 babies are born with a visual impairment and, according to World Health Organization estimates, around 800 million children in the world have a visual impairment. Early diagnosis is essential for these children. With timely intervention, up to 90 percent of all cases are preventable or curable. However, diagnosing children can be difficult because they can’t articulate what’s wrong with them. Now, AI is making early diagnosis a very real possibility.
Most eye diseases occur in the first five years of life. Unfortunately, a lack of parental knowledge and awareness leads to many children missing the optimum diagnosis p eriod. Only a third of children with an eye disease receive early treatment. Most children remain undiagnosed for months or years, which affects their eyesight, educational opportunities, and development. In low- and middle-income countries, going blind can be a deadly threat for some children.
Traditionally it has largely fallen to professional ophthalmologists to detect eye diseases in children. To diagnose their condition the doctor will attract the child’s attention by moving their finger or an instrument and then observe the child’s reaction.
However, in many developing nations, professional ophthalmologists are in extremely short supply. In developed countries, rigorous referral systems mean that ordinary ophthalmologists are not qualified to give specialist tests for eye diseases. And once a patient is transferred to a specialist, the waiting time can be as long as three months to half a year.