We are partnering with Sightsavers to transform eye health services in remote areas
We are partnering with Sightsavers and Eye Health Stakeholders in Africa and Asia to enhance smartphone-based vision testing technology. This innovation could help transform eye health services in remote areas, allowing anyone with a phone to access vision testing.
Globally, an estimated 1.1 billion people suffer from untreated or preventable vision impairment, largely due to a lack of access to basic eye care. A simple vision test can be life-changing, offering a pathway to inclusion, education, and economic opportunity.
However, in low- to middle-income countries, particularly remote areas, access to trained eye health personnel and diagnostic equipment remains a significant challenge. This limited availability restricts the capacity to reach those in need. To address this, we are further collaborating with eye health partners to improve the reliability of our product, Argus. This solution replicates the evaluations typically performed by an optometrist, refractionist, or optician, empowering anyone with a smartphone, including general health workers, to assess vision correction needs.
Argus promises to be a game-changer in bringing accessible, high-quality eye care to remote areas. It will equip individuals with the tools they need to understand and address vision correction needs—reducing the burden on in-demand trained eye health personnel and the need for specialised equipment.
To ensure the technology’s reliability and precision for use in low-resource settings, Sightsavers is supporting OptikosPrime by facilitating connections with in-country Eye Health Partners that it works with across Africa and Asia. These partnerships will allow us to optimise the tool’s performance, adapting it to varied environments and enhancing its capacity to deliver accurate, accessible vision testing for those in need.
Sumrana Yasmin, Deputy Technical Director, Eye Health and URE, at Sightsavers comments:
“Everyone should have access to the eye health services they need, yet the availability of eye health services varies across and within countries. More than 85% of people with visual impairment live in low to middle income countries, and eye health services are often less accessible in rural and remote locations.”
“We are supporting OptikosPrime to connect with in-country eye health partners across Africa and Asia to test and enhance the technology, as we see the value in its development.
It has the potential to improve access to eye health services and make it more cost-effective and efficient, which will benefit the health sector and the people requiring eye health services and vision correction.”
Want more information or discuss a partnership?
Ståle Fredlund Husby, Founder & COO