Would you like one more reason to trade in your Samsung Galaxy smartphone for a newer model? How about if your old Galaxy smartphone could help improve access to eye care for underserved populations? The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that nearly half of the 2.2 billion cases of vision impairment in the world were preventable or untreated. Lack of access to eye care services is a global problem and your old Galaxy can help.
Samsung’s Galaxy Upcycling program uses old smartphones as the brains of EYELIKE handheld fundus cameras. Samsung created this program with the International Agency for the Prevention of Blindness (IAPB) and Yonsei University Health System (YUHS) in Korea. The Galaxy Upcycling program focuses on providing smartphone-based fundus cameras for medical diagnosis to low- and middle-income areas where eye care services are unavailable or unaffordable.
In transforming a phone to an EYELIKE fundus camera, Samsung connects an older Galaxy smartphone to a lens attachment that can capture images suitable for fundus diagnosis. The fundus is the back of the eye opposite the pupil. The smartphone camera captures images of the fundus and artificial intelligence algorithms in a smartphone app analyze the images. The app can diagnose ophthalmic diseases such as diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma, and age-related macular degeneration (AMD). Early diagnosis and treatment can slow progress or prevent these eye diseases, each of which ultimately can lead to blindness. The EYELIKE camera is significantly less expensive than traditional fundus cameras and image processing equipment.
After starting in Vietnam, where more than 19,000 residents in remote regions have been screened for eye disease, Samsung is expanding the EYELIKE Galaxy Upcycling program in India, Morocco, and Papua New Guinea. Samsung is also exploring other medical capabilities for recycled Galaxy smartphones such as screening for cervical cancer.
So go ahead, upgrade to a new Galaxy smartphone and trade in your old model. Maybe in the future your phone will help someone get treatment in time to preserve their sight.
