In the expanses of India, where healthcare resources can be limited, the use of AI technology from SAP and CleaVision is casting a ray of hope for newborn babies vulnerable to Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP), a condition that – if left untreated – can lead to irreversible blindness. This groundbreaking combination of medicine and technology provides a tangible solution to prevent blindness in newborns across India.
ROP is a disease that affects premature babies and impacts India significantly, since the country has more than 3 million babies born premature every year, the highest number in the world. “About 25% to 40% of these babies have a risk of developing ROP,” says Dr. Anand Vinekar, head of the Department of Pediatric Retina at Narayana Nethralaya Eye Institute in Bangalore and the founder of KIDROP, a program working to address the problem of ROP in rural India.
Blindness from ROP is largely preventable if identified and treated within the first weeks of birth. But while the screening itself is not difficult for a trained provider, the challenge of detecting ROP in millions of premature babies is profound. Each preterm infant must be screened multiple times during the critical period, equating to upwards of 20 million exams per year if every preterm baby is screened, Dr. Vinekar says.
The vast distances that many families in India live from hospitals, combined with a critical shortage of specialized doctors, make this a nearly impossible task using current methods. However, KIDROP, CleaVision, and SAP are using AI to help bridge this gap and offer a lifeline to infants like Hanvith C.
